Automatic robot restaurants put a new spin on fast everyday
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They're not our conspirtors just yet. At these restaurants, the robots are here to serve you.
When ever 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 way more pedestrian and low-key.
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 the own restaurants. But the company announced Friday that it can expanding its robotic system to the fast-casual restaurant chain Wow Bao next month.
Tap on your cubby to get 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 manage to accumulate your meal from an LED-lit cubbyhole showing your name. Text appearing on the front of the cubby, one amongst a larger array, will tell you once your order is cooking and when you can double-tap on the box to accumulate your meal.
It's a quick turnaround for Eatsa, which only a couple weeks back announced the closing of five of its seven restaurants across the country. The company has now switched its focus to offering automated tech as a platform to other restaurants such as Wow Bao.
A mixture of man-made intelligence, personal screens, robotics and -- perhaps most crucially -- the willingness of hungry customers to skip human interaction is coming at the right time to make Eatsa's shift possible. It's part of the slow creep of technology that is transforming our activities of dining out, and even dining in, thanks to advances in delivery tech.
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 does present a vision of the future that will be copied or enhanced. "
Robot restaurants-Robot Restaurant how long
The first Eatsa-equipped Wow Bao will open in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago on Dec. 1. Using the technology, Incredible Bao plans to increase its sites in 2018. It currently has seven company-owned locations, plus airport, college or university 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 immediately that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to incorporate into our future locations. "
Do robots fit in 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 the kitchen.
At Cafe X and Zume, both based in Bay area, robots make lattes and pizza, 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.
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