A restaurant in China is electrifying customers
by using more than a dozen robots to cook and deliver food.
Mechanical staff greet customers, deliver dishes to
tables and even stir-fry meat and vegetables at the eatery in Kunshan, which
opened last week.
"My daughter asked me to invent a robot because
she doesn't like doing housework," the restaurant's founder Song Yugang
told AFP.
Two robots are stationed by the door to cheerfully
greet customers, while four short but humanoid machines carry trays of food to
the tables.
In the kitchen, two large blue robots with glowing
red eyes specialize in frying, while another is dedicated to making dumplings.
Song told the local Modern Times newspaper that each
robot costs around 40,000 yuan ($6,500) -- roughly equal to the annual salary
of a human employee.
"The robots can understand 40 everyday
sentences. They can't get sick or ask for vacation. After charging up for two
hours they can work for five hours," he added.
The restaurant, in the eastern province of Jiangsu,
follows in the tracks of another robotic eatery which opened in the
northeastern city of Harbin in 2012.
Rising labour costs in China have encouraged
manufacturers to turn to automation, and the country last year surpassed Japan
to become the world's biggest consumer of industrial robots.
The cooking robots -- which have a fixed repertoire
-- exhibit limited artificial intelligence, and are loaded with ingredients by
human staff, who also help to make some dishes.
But customers at the restaurant who tucked into
fried tomatoes with egg, soup, and rice were thrilled with the experience.
"My children are really excited by the
robots," said Yang Limei, a mother of three.
The round-headed waiter robots can only move along
fixed paths, and politely ask customers to move out of their way whenever their
routes are blocked.
"I've never seen a robot serving food
before," said Yuan Yuan, nine. "I'm really surprised."
No comments:
Post a Comment