Robot restaurants put a new spin on fast casual
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They're not our conspirtors as of this time. At these restaurants, the robots are here to serve you.
Once 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 way 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 the own restaurants. But the company announced Friday that is actually expanding its robotic system 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 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 once you can double-tap on the box to accumulate your meal.
It's a quick turn-around for Eatsa, which only a couple weeks ago announced the closing of five of its several 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 mixture of unnatural intelligence, personal screens, robotics and -- perhaps most crucially -- the determination of hungry customers to skip human interaction is coming at the moment to make Eatsa's shift possible. It's part of a sluggish creep of technology that is transforming our experience of dining out, and even dining in, thanks to advances in delivery technology.
Eatsa's concept might seem to be 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 cover assembly of orders and deliver via a workplace? " he said. "Maybe not. But Eatsa does indeed present a vision for the future that will be copied or enhanced. "
Robotic restaurants-Robot Restaurant entrance fee
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 double 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 efficient. "I knew immediately that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to incorporate into our future locations. "
Do robots are supposed to be in the kitchen?
For 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 Coffeehouse X and Zume, both based in San Francisco, 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.
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