DINERS at a restaurant in China will no longer have to deal with human errors from their waiters.
Inspired by the Bots cafe from the US, Sam and Cat, a restaurant owner in China has created an eaterie filled with robots.
The cafe in Ningbo, a seaport city in north-eastern China’s Zhejiang province, now has automated waiters who take orders and serve food in the restaurant… and tell customers to enjoy their meal in Mandarin. The machines navigate their way around with the use of an optical-sensing system. Although wages for the robots are non-existent, they still do not come cheap, costing at least £6 000 (R103 958) each.
But with a five-year warranty on each one, and the fact that they only need to be charged four hours a day, the owner Lu Dike, says that in the long-term it will save him a fortune in wages.
The machines are a popular draw at the restaurants, with diners wanting to experience being serviced by them. They also have the capability to speak up to 40 phrases in Mandarin Chinese, such as “enjoy your meal”.
Lu is being put under pressure to put the robots on sale for people to take home.
He said: “I get asked at least once a day if I’m prepared to sell one of them. Who knows? Maybe it might be a good sideline.”
Customer Xu Yuan, who is interested in purchasing a robot waiter, said: “I really like the service and I think I would really like one at home.” – Daily Mail