Dubai’s RoboCafé is staffed by robots

Dubai’s RoboCafé uses robots to serve customers.  (Image Credit: RoboCafé)

Guess I had the right idea with my drink mixing robot, the Drinkmotizer.

Dubai’s RoboCafé is helping humans minimize contact during the pandemic. The RoboCafé, which launched in June 2020, doesn’t have any human waiters or chefs in the restaurant. Instead, German-robots handle the tasks of preparing and delivering customer orders. It took over two years to finish RoboCafé, which was set to launch in March 2020 but got delayed due to the pandemic. RoboCafé was developed with support from the Dubai government’s artificial intelligence initiative. Human workers are only present to fix glitches or disinfect surfaces.

The setup is quite simple. A customer orders from the touchscreen on their table, and everything else relies on artificial intelligence. The robot sorts out orders based on the table and places them on the small service bot, which is delivered to the customer. Even though the German-made robots create the drinks, the fully autonomous robots are designed and developed in the UAE. 

A trolley-like robot named Aglio Kim is delivering food to customers at a South Korean restaurant. The whole idea, which was introduced in September 2020, is to minimize human contact and practice social distancing. The 1.25-meter tall robot can carry up to 30 kilograms with the food tray. It’s also equipped with an LCD screen and a speaker to communicate in Korean and English. The robot can deliver food to up to four tables at once. It’s capable of avoiding obstacles and navigating around customers.

Over twenty types of robots serve customers at Foodum. They’re capable of performing tasks such as cooking, waiting, delivering food, and making coffee. (Image Credit: Country Garden)

Chinese diners don’t have to worry about finishing a meal in the presence of a human worker. On June 22, 2020, Country Garden unveiled Foodom, a 21,500 square foot restaurant in the southern province of Guangdong. It’s currently staffed by over 20 types of robots that perform tasks such as cooking, waiting, delivering food, and making coffee. The eatery can serve up to 600 customers at once with hundreds of freshly-prepared meals.

Customers don’t have to wait long after placing an order. That’s because it takes at least 20 seconds for a robot to cook the meal. The restaurant serves a wide range of dishes, from stir-fry and clay-pot rice to hamburgers and fries. Country Garden said the goal here is to maintain food hygiene by eliminating human contact. See a video of the cafe at this link.

This summer, Dawn Avatar Robot Café is set to open in Nihonbashi. It features humanoid robots that wait on customers and serve food and beverages. The goal here is to create more job opportunities for disabled people.  The OriHime-D robots, developed by Ory Laboratory, are operated remotely from home via an internet connection, allowing people with severe physical disabilities to work. 

The 120cm tall robots are fitted with a camera, microphone, and speaker, allowing them to speak and collect orders while moving around an area. If an employee can’t move or talk, they can use state-of-the-art software to type messages with their eyes. When the robots obtain the messages, they’re relayed back to the customers. A live video feed is also available to the employees, giving them a visual of their surroundings.

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