Robotic restaurants-hajime Robot Restaurant pictures

Automatic robot restaurants put a new spin on fast informal

style="display:block; text-align:center;"
data-ad-format="fluid"
data-ad-layout="in-article"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9623405102354877"
data-ad-slot="5622929528">


They're not our overlords as of 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 physical show that accompanies meal.

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

An 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 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 software or an on-site kiosk. But with Eatsa's tech, you'll also have the ability to gather 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 and when you can double-tap on the box to acquire your meal.

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

A combo of man-made intelligence, personal screens, robotics and -- perhaps most crucially -- the readiness 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's transforming our experience 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 sound right to conceal assembly of orders and deliver via a cubicle? " he said. "Maybe not. But Eatsa does present a vision for the future that will be duplicated or enhanced. "

Robotic restaurants-hajime Robot Restaurant pictures

The first Eatsa-equipped Wow Bao will open in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago on Dec. 1. Using the technology, Amazing Bao plans to increase its sites in 2018. It currently has eight 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 successful. "I knew straight away that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to incorporate into our future locations. "

Do robots fit in in the kitchen?
In Eatsa and soon at Wow Bao, the robotic technology is front and center in the restaurant, serving customers and providing associated with an experience to go along with their takeout. In other restaurants, robots remain strictly consigned to the kitchen.

At Coffee shop X and Zume, both based in San Francisco, automated programs make lattes and pizzas, 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.


style="display:block; text-align:center;"
data-ad-format="fluid"
data-ad-layout="in-article"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9623405102354877"
data-ad-slot="5622929528">