Robot Restaurant Shinjuku access-Robot restaurants

Robot restaurants put a new spin on fast informal

They're not our conspirtors at this time. At these restaurants, the robots are here to serve you.
Once someone says "robot restaurant, " I first think of an LED and laser show at a Tokyo venue where remote-controlled robots dance with bikini-clad girls in a sensory show that accompanies meal.

But the reality of robot restaurants is generally far more pedestrian and low-class.

One of these is Eatsa, the San Francisco-based restaurant company that takes orders through iPads and dispenses meals through automated machines. Until now, Eatsa has been using this tech to provide up quinoa bowls to health-food fans in its own restaurants. But the company announced Friday that is actually expanding its robotic platform to the fast-casual restaurant chain Wow Bao next month.

Tap on your cubby to obtain your food

At Chicago-based Wow Bao, you can already order your steamed buns via its software or an on-site kiosk. Good results . Eatsa's tech, you'll also be able to acquire your meal from an LED-lit cubbyhole displaying your name. Text showing up on the front of the cubby, one amid a larger array, will tell you once your order is cooking so when you can double-tap on the box to accumulate your food.

It's a quick turnaround for Eatsa, which only a couple weeks ago announced the closing of five of its several restaurants across the country. The company has now changed its focus to offering automated tech as a platform to other restaurants such as Wow Bao.

A combo of artificial intelligence, personal screens, robotics and -- perhaps most crucially -- the determination of hungry customers to skip human interaction is coming at the right moment to make Eatsa's shift possible. It's part of the sluggish creep of technology that is transforming our activities of dining out, and even dining in, thanks to advances in delivery technical.

Eatsa's concept might appear exotic today, but Neil Stern, senior partner at retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle, said we can expect to see more of this kind of tech popping up. "Does it make sense to cover assembly of orders and deliver via a cubicle? " he said. "Maybe not. But Eatsa does present a vision for the future that will be copied or enhanced. "

Robot Restaurant Shinjuku access-Robot restaurants

The first Eatsa-equipped Wow Bao will open in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago on Dec. one particular. Using the technology, Wow Bao plans to increase its sites in 2018. It currently has seven company-owned locations, plus airport terminal, school campus, hotel and stadium franchises.

"When I actually first heard about Eatsa opening in San Francisco, I jumped on a plane to come see it, " Wow Bao President Geoff Alexander said in a statement. Alexander praised the technology as both entertaining and effective. "I knew instantly that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to integrate into our future locations. "

Do robots belong in the kitchen?
At Eatsa and soon at Wow Bao, the automatic technology is front and center in the restaurant, serving customers and providing these an experience to go along with their takeout. In other restaurants, robots are still strictly consigned to your kitchen.

At Cafe X and Zume, both based in S . fransisco, programs make lattes and pizza, respectively. California startup Miso Robotics has built a kitchen assistant robot called Flippy, which from early 2018 is expected to be grilling burgers in CaliBurger restaurants.