[imagesource: Getty]

I’ve done my time shuttling between the kitchen, bar, and floor of many restaurants, and I’m thankful that those days are behind me.

The older I get, the less fond I am of putting up with people’s nonsense, so massive respect to those who earn a living this way.

Depending on who you ask, Cape Town is either renowned for its rubbish service or exceptional service, but I don’t think the city’s waitstaff are in danger of being replaced by robots any time soon.

In other parts of the world, that is already happening, with Forbes documenting the rise of restaurant robots amidst a number of COVID-19 pandemic measures.

At Claypot Rice, a Chinese restaurant in Calgary, robot greeters and servers chat with guests, take orders and run food from the kitchen. These are typically three distinct roles performed by humans, a fact not lost on owner Alex Guo.

“Right now I focus on the kitchen,” Guo told CTV News. “I don’t have time to figure out how to use it (the robot) but even in the future I’m thinking that the robot can’t replace the people.”

That doesn’t sound like a glowing endorsement at all. Manager Amy Cen was upbeat, though, saying “it’s a very cool concept”, and that it has attracted new business in a time when the industry needs all the help it can get.

The owners of a UK restaurant called Robotazia are far more enthused, with their robots upcycled from vacuum cleaners, cement mixers, and other detritus in a sci-fi themed space.

What started as a popular exhibit morphed into a dining experience, and now 10 human servers work alongside four robot servers.

Here they are in action:

 

I suppose it adds to the appeal, and it’s a sci-fi themed dining experience, so the boxes are ticked.

Over at Mad For Garlic, a wonderfully named restaurant in South Korea, Aglio Kim is on the job, and tasked with helping put diners at ease over COVID-19 fears.

Meet said robot:

 

I can see things unravelling when the voice recognition aspect kicks in.

Finally, multinational conglomerate SoftBank’s robotics division is forging ahead with plans to bring a food service robot developed by California-based Bear Robotics to Japan.

This from TechCrunch:

Labor has, of course, been an issue in Japan for some time, courtesy of a shrinking population, low birthrate and a confluence of other issues…

Priced at $950 a month, as part of a three-year lease plan, the robot is set to arrive in Japan in January. The robot is a mobile serving station designed to replace or augment wait staff in a restaurant. Each unit is capable of holding two serving trays and a bin for bussing dishes after serving.

Observe what $950 a month will get a Japanese restaurant:

 

Robotic help isn’t just limited to the front of house, either.

US-based burger chain White Castle is testing out Flippy, a burger-grilling robot which uses AI to detect burger doneness.

This is how it starts. You make one derogatory comment about robots and next thing there’s ground-up glass in your meal.

[sources:forbes&techcrunch]