43 pointsby xqcgrek2a day ago20 comments
  • rogerclark21 hours ago
    These things really suck. The novelty wears off instantly. It's uncomfortable having to either stand up to get something from the robot or awkwardly reach over while sitting down. The moment when food comes out is the most likely time for customers to express positive emotion at a restaurant. You don't get to express gratitude toward human staff and the staff don't receive that positive feedback. The people working there are relegated entirely to cleanup and maintenance.

    But I guess the robot companies are making money.

    • LeoPanthera19 hours ago
      This is a really polarizing thing. I know a lot of people who value any extra opportunity to not talk to someone.
      • HPsquared19 hours ago
        Same as robot taxis.
        • jfim17 hours ago
          I'd argue that robo taxis are a bit different. I've had some pretty sketchy experiences with poor driving on ride shares, and some women prefer having a robo taxi to a human driven one for evening rides.

          The only bad interactions I've had with restaurant staff was staff getting a bit irritated at ordering slowly.

    • dannyphantom21 hours ago
      I work as a server on weekends to stay sane and for....some reason, corporate had the grand idea that automated cleaning robots (it's like a roomba but a bit taller) going around would improve the guest experience.

      Our floors aren't ever really filled with trash though! We're one of those 2010s-era brewpubs so it's a large, open space but these things are so awkward to navigate around and I wish so much that they would send them to the basement.

      • peropero9620 hours ago
        > I work as a server on weekends to stay sane

        Sorry for being nosy, is it about fighting loneliness? If that's the case, is it effective / something you'd recommend? I've been thinking about it for myself, and I worry that the physical exaustion, coping with nasty customers and lack of deep relationships on the job would make any benefit moot.

        • dannyphantom19 hours ago
          Mostly to get a few miles of steps in, honestly. Throughout high-school, undergrad and grad school I worked as a server and it's just become something that helps me stay sane (and I love the food we serve tbh).

          For what it's worth, working as a server can be really helpful for loneliness though - at virtually every place I've worked, the coworkers become very close and good friends as we all commiserate together throughout the shift haha

          Serving did help me a ton with getting comfortable speaking in large groups of people; was a huge benefit - being able to strike up a conversation with just about anyone, build rapport and make a connection has been infinitely helpful in my personal and professional life.

          I'm sure there is a better way to frame this but when I approach a table of guests I kind of pull from a "rolodex of personalities" to instantly make them comfortable and build rapport (since it's kind of awkward on the guest side, too, if that makes sense) - it's like having hundreds of small, genuine conversations a day. Some tables can be toxic but they are quickly forgotten by another group who are incredibly fun to wait on.

          Definitely recommend trying it out at a non-corporate location if you have one! I work at a Rock Bottom which is a definitely a corporate owned brand but it's a lot less suffocating than a chain like Applebees, Olive Garden or others in that vein. A local place will give you a lot of agency and autonomy on how to manage your tables - the owner at the Mexican restaurant I worked at would walk up to your table and tell them to 'get the hell out' if they were being hostile towards you

    • epcoa11 hours ago
      Not always. They use these robots at higher end places like better hot pots joints (like Haidilao) which are full service, the robots deliver the food from the kitchen but typically it will be unloaded by wait staff. Allows wait staff to spend less time bussing food from the kitchen, and some of these restaurants can be quite large.
    • heeen218 hours ago
      Have you ever been to hama sushi, sushiroh or Kura sushi? These are chains where you order from a tablet and it gets delivered via belt to your seat or pick from the belt. You pay at an semiautomatic kiosk. Meeting the staff is optional
    • ryandrake21 hours ago
      > But I guess the robot companies are making money.

      This isn't the first time and won't be the last time the general public had to deal with things being worse, just so companies can make money. We can't have companies not making money. Good heavens!

    • dist-epoch19 hours ago
      > You don't get to express gratitude toward human staff

      For some people, this is a feature.

      https://unbelievable-facts.com/2024/10/ichiran-the-japanese-...

  • rcarmoan hour ago
    I am in Portugal and have a Chinese-owned sushi place near me that uses one of these, as well as Android tablets with menus to order from the table. Not a high-end place at all.

    I’ve noticed other similar restaurants using the same order system, but only a couple have robots.

  • pryelluw21 hours ago
    Local bowling alley has them. The wife ordered some stuff just to see it come by and wink at her.

    They still ask for a tip. Guess the robots gotta feed their electric sheep.

    • __egb__19 hours ago
      > They still ask for a tip.

      Finally, something to do with all the old sticks of RAM I have.

    • baggy_trough20 hours ago
      Now that is crazy.
  • msarrela day ago
    I heard it's really difficult to measure the success of these rollouts because the cat-eared robots put the food on the table and then push it off.
  • chvida day ago
    Pretty sure those are Chinese robots though:

    https://www.pudurobotics.com/en

    • Pudu is a chinese company but idk how that's necessarily relevant. Bellabots are rather common in Japan and other places as well. Kerfus for example is a branded Polish bellabot that's quite famous globally.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerfu%C5%9B

      • chvid20 hours ago
        It is the same in Germany where you see them in Rewe and Mediamarkt with local branding.

        But my point was that the “cat ears” are a Chinese design - and not Japanese as implied by the headline.

        It is getting be big business though - Pudu has 80.000 employees. So I guess some find them useful.

        • signatoremo20 hours ago
          > not Japanese as implied by the headline.

          Neither the submission nor the Bloomberg's article headline implies the robots are Japanese.

  • Tagbert20 hours ago
    A Vietnamese restaurant near Seattle has one of these and they are both annoying and useless. The device rolls slowing between the tables playing a repetitive tune like a popsicle truck. Meanwhile the server walks along next to it and pull the food off the tray and puts it on the table. There is no labor saving or time saving benefit. I suspect that they do it just to seem “high tech” but its not impressive.
  • Szpadel21 hours ago
    if you are interested in this robot, this is off the shelf product called BellaBot

    fun fact Carrefour Poland decided to make it their mascot: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerfu%C5%9B

    they even sell this catface t-shirts and other wardrobe

    the robot itself from technological point of view looks kind off like oversized robot vacuum, but looks interesting anyways

  • t-321 hours ago
    This is basically just a roomba with trays on it, right?

    Are they being unloaded by the customers? The article gives the impression that it's just carrying the trays and a human waiter is unloading, which seems like just a very expensive cart.

    • qwerty45612720 hours ago
      > This is basically just a roomba with trays on it, right? Are they being unloaded by the customers?

      Yes. The customers are really happy wit this. Everyone likes cute kitty robots bringing dishes to their tables where they take everything themselves. The restaurants using these usually are more expensive than average. Here in the EU, I dunno about Japan.

      • kalleboo15 hours ago
        In Japan I've only seen them at cheap family restaurants and all-you-can-eat yakiniku (korean bbq) places where they want to save on labor.
    • im3w1l21 hours ago
      I think you are underestimating the long term potential of robots like this to fit into a fully automated workflow.

      Imagine a tablet ordering system relaying to a fully automated cooking machine unloading into a fully automated tray carrier. These all exist, although automated cooking is mostly proof of concept for now.

      • 20 hours ago
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  • ArtTimeInvestor21 hours ago
    I would like these if they had closed chambers that only open up when the robot arrives at the table.

    I wouldn't want to eat food that was driven unprotected through the restaurant. Other customers might have dropped something onto it. Or have touched it while grabbing their own food from the robot.

  • vasco19 hours ago
    Just got served by a similar thing to these today in Amsterdam at a trendy seafood place. I thought I wouldn't like it but it was fine. Just get the plate and click the screen "Done". Smooth and no talking to anyone. Pretty nice.
  • mattlondon21 hours ago
    They have these in CenterParcs in the UK. Bit of a novelty as a waiter still unloads the food and puts it on the table - the robot just brings it over.

    I guess there is more time for waiters to actually serve customers rather than spending time going back and forwards a lot

  • Natsua day ago
    They're not just in Japan, they're already here in the USA and I've eaten at a place using them.
  • SunlitCat19 hours ago
    As already said, those kind of robots are available at other places as well, so this article, albeit a bit more fancy, seems to look like one of those "Oh no! Look how wacky Japan is!" articles! :D
  • 14 hours ago
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  • epcoaa day ago
    These are super common in Chinatown (pick one) restaurants in the US and they have been for a few years. I thought they were Chinese.
    • chvid20 hours ago
      They are Chinese.
  • anonzzziesa day ago
    I see them in a lot of places in europe too.
  • bawolff18 hours ago
    I've seen these in canada, especially at family resturants. Kids seem to love them.
  • webdevver21 hours ago
    can a private indivdual buy one of these? and can they be taught to cook food aswell as serve it?
  • devmor21 hours ago
    They have these at several ramen places here in Atlanta. I can’t speak to their usefulness but they’re quite cute.