Originally published at: This Japanese restaurant has robot waiters | Boing Boing
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How can Japan be so far behind China with this technology? The one in Japan doesn’t even have ominous glowing red eyes:
But this technology goes way further back. I remember my grandma taking me to this restaurant in Pasadena CA in the early 1980s. My siblings and I were fighting about something and the robot had to ask us to please stop. Ah, memories…
Up here, and out yonder our way, the food service establishments are moving to “order at the window / pick up order at the window” type of service, this is to facilitate the lack of labor availability, and I surmise keep the menu prices in check.
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Given that my immune system is suppressed, I wish more places operated this way. There are a few places in town that have always done this. Saves space, saves money, and it acknowledges that most restaurants aren’t really that fantastic to sit in and eat.
These robots never seem like more than a novelty, but I remember coming across one that had remote human operators. It was used as a way for housebound and bed bound individuals to work. Off to search for a link.
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As you stated, the costs are the end result in this method, once the public is on board, little to no reason to go back to human labor, better to use those people in food prep/kitchen help, and no doubt removes the customer service to a one person contact at the window, that’s a huge win in my book.
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If I want to avoid human interaction- let’s just bring back the Automat.
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It’s an idea who’s time has come.
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Order from screen at table, cooked by Flippy and delivered by this robot and as long as the place isn’t a mega franchise, I’d go.
I like the idea of helping home-bound people work through remote telepresence, but I dislike removing one more job that you can excel at without needing a college degree. If the restaurant industry gets around to just paying a fucking living wage already, then waitstaff could even just be humans who like the work, for whatever reason.
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There’s a Chinese restaurant here in Reims, France that now has three robots - two waiters and one cleaner. I was literally just reading about it yesterday in our local free weekly! The proprietor has contacts in the robotic industry back in China and was able to ship two to start with during Covid, which hit the buffet restaurant industry pretty hard. Clients order from their table what they want from the “buffet” and their order is delivered via robot. Apparently it’s a huge hit with kids and, more importantly, the business was able to stay open.
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My local supermarket just installed self-checkout lanes. Ironically, I spent way more time interacting with the attendant while he helped with the machine’s glitches than I normally would have spent with a cashier.
I remember that restaurant. It was on Lake Blvd. if I recall correctly.
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The article clearly stats that.
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