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Robotic restaurants put a new spin on fast casual

They're not our conspirators at this time. At these restaurants, the robots are here to serve you.
When 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 dinner.

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

One example 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 iphone app or an on-site kiosk. But with Eatsa's tech, you'll also be able to acquire your meal from an LED-lit cubbyhole exhibiting your name. Text appearing on the front of the cubby, one among a larger array, will tell you once your order is cooking so when you can double-tap on the box to gather the food.

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

A combo of unnatural 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 any gradual creep of technology that's transforming our experience of dining out, and even dining in, thanks to advances in delivery technology.

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 seem sensible to hide assembly of orders and deliver via an office? " he said. "Maybe not. But Eatsa will present a vision for the future that will be duplicated or enhanced. "

Robot Restaurant Tokyo booking-Robotic restaurants

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

"When We 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 immediately that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to include 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 them with an experience to go along with their takeout. In other restaurants, robots remain strictly consigned to the kitchen.

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