It was bound to happen. With all of the interest in service-oriented robots -- like those that make your noodles, serve your drinks, and make your burgers -- it should come as little surprise that a restaurant comprised nearly entirely of a robotic wait staff has opened in China.
The so-called Robot Restaurant -- outlined in the Daily Mail and other published reports and a video online -- is located in Harbin, Heilongjiang province in China and has a staff of 18 multi-colored robots that uses sensors and conveyor belts to move around the restaurant and serve customers.
The robots perform a number of tasks, like bringing specialty noodle and dumpling dishes to tables after human wait staff take orders, leading clients to their tables, and also cooking the dishes being served.
The Harbin Haohai Robot Company in China has developed a robotic restaurant staff and opened a restaurant that uses them to cook, greet clients, and wait tables. The robots, which are multicolored and travel around via sensors on the floor, cost about $31,000 to $47,000 and run on batteries with a five-hour life. The move is part of a growing trend toward service robots, a market that could outpace even industrial robots in the next several years. (Source: Reuters)
They stand between about four feet and five feet tall, can exhibit about 10 different facial expressions, and run on batteries that have about a five-hour life span. The robots can also verbally greet customers.
The Harbin Haohai Robot Company designed the machines in use at the restaurant, which serves about 30 different dishes and in which the company invested about 5 million yuan ($790,000). Each robot itself cost about 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($31,500 to $47,000). The restaurant opened last year.
This kind of noodle joint may sound like the stuff of sci-fi, but it comes as little surprise to me, someone who's been watching the robotic space for a while. Robots in the restaurant industry are part of a new wave of service robots emerging in a market that is expected to grow at an even faster clip than the busy industrial robot market over the new few years, according to a recent study from Freedonia, "World Robots to 2016."
Asia in particular -- perhaps because of its interest in anime and sci-fi -- has been particularly receptive to using robots to interact with humans in service jobs. In addition to Harbin Haohai's creation of a robotic restaurant staff, it was a chef in Beijing named Cui Runquan who invented the noodle-making robot, which looks similar to the ones serving customers in Harbin.
Well said about freedom of choice. I still think the Mac OS--at least pre-X--was highly innovative and easy to work with as a user. That's when I could still fix it myself. I'm sorry to see Apple get so successful only because it went to their heads somewhat and, like great big MS, they also began releasing bloatware. But at least it's much more elegant bloatware!
I offer no criticism of those who choose the "MAC" mode of operation, but I also champion the freedom that allows us a number of choices, at least sort of choices. I dispise the monopoly that keeps taking away our non-bloateware choices, although it is obvious that the freedoms we embrace allow that monopoly to exist. Freedom supports both the good, the bad, and the really ugly.
William, your tale sounds like so many I've heard over the years from programmer friends. From the user standpoint, I'm just very thankful for the Mac GUI.
Ann, you are absolutely correct. At one job a major portion was writing test machine control programs in a language called TBOSS, in a dialect called UVOSS. The compiler/linker was very user hostile, and so each day of that was often a fight. Of course now we have windows and all of the other programs designed to alter the way that we think. So it is still a fight, but the enemy is both more devious and more polite. The old days were better.
William, I also work with technology daily, usually the technology that either gets in the way of, or helps facilitate, getting my job done. Having recently suffered through (sometimes concurrent) internet and phone outages or access problems, I know what you mean about fighting with it. I agree that there should be tech-free zones here and there, but what and where they are is open to a lot of debate.
Yes, Elizabeth, progress has its drawbacks. The Pony Express (dear to us in Missouri) was replaced by the railroad. But this was replaced by the telegraph, which put them out of work. And this was replaced by wireless, well done actually, which cost a lot of jobs. And this was replaced by the telephone, which eventually killed totally telegraph ( Western Union), and this has almost been killed off by cell phones. And be the Internet has almost killed off the Post Office.
The onslaught of technology has cost jobs and must stop before we develop psychic abilities and need no technology, or we will have to bring back the Pony Express for those who can't. And we will need a lot more than 120 riders!
Yes, these are all things that would be eliminated by robot workers, Warren! So it would be a lot less hassle on employers, but then you would have to think about maintenance and AI updates for the robots, what might happen in case they fail mechanically and other considerations that you don't need with human workers. It would still probably favor the robot in terms of being an easier solution if you look at the big picture, but then again, no change comes for free and no solution is perfect.
Ann, what eventually came to mind as I read all of the posts about robotic servers was that one line from the first Star Wars movie, as Luke and the two 'droids go to enter a cantina, and the bouncer stops the two robots with "we don't allow your kind in here". There is a place for robotics and automatia, which are a cute gimmick, and a place where there is simply no adequate substitute for a real human. Robots of whatever type are simply a "different kind", and although it may sound like prejudice, it is not, but there are times when it is a wonderful relief to get away from all of that programmed presence. Of course, that is the opinio of one who works with technology and fights with it daily.
Wow! What a great idea. No tax forms to fill out, no payroll, no SS tax, no workman's comp, no sexual harrassment suits, no sick leave, no vacation pay, no holidays, no dress code, no arguments, no disagreements, no complaining about work considitions, no maternity leave, no union hassles, and no promotions and wage increases. What a perfect solution for the 21st century.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
3 
