Yeah, that's the reason. Sure.

Chili’s restaurants using robot servers to make jobs easier for workers

Here's an employee that will never steal from you, file a workman's compensation claim or any kind of suit against your business, or picket outside your restaurant for some idiotic leftist cause. The only sick days they'll take will be when you're waiting for replacement parts to come in from China. They'll work a double shift and you won't hear a single complaint from them.

Wait till one of those robots spill hot coffee on a customer.

I wonder if the robots speak and answer questions like "What time you get off tonite?"

So how does a discussion at the table go regarding leaving the server’s tip?

“Rita was fantastic, leave her three AAA batteries instead of two.”

With a few more of these and a burgerbot behind the counter...

No batteries required.

There's a wind-up key stick out of its ass.

This would never work out well at Hooters.

Plus, not only will they show up, but they’ll be on time as well.

I, Robot. First thing that came to mind.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
I, Robot. First thing that came to mind.

The Three Laws of Robotics


A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Servers are, pretty much, the largest wasted cost in food service.

They can be nice people, and about 1 in ten really helps sales, but 20% of the gross to carry trays to a table is nuts.

The restaurant industry has been looking for a way out of tips - kitchens make or break a restaurant, but servers get a larger percentage of the gross than owners.

Good, virtual, staff might work well. Put a tablet on top, to take orders, be asked questions, etc.

Might let the good staff just focus on that/just do order taking.

Drink refills could be handled by a call button, and a robot running a fresh cup.

None of the programmers that programmed them are as smart as Asimov.

I would not bet this could not roll over your foot or spill hot coffee on you.

Servers spill hot coffee, step on people, get knocked down, fall etc all the time.

Statistically, I’m pretty sure the robot will have a lower incidence of liability claims.

[quote]I would not bet this could not roll over your foot or spill hot coffee on you.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Sams floor cleaning robot ran right into me. Then it stopped and made a beeping sound. I was not injured but not happy. I guess Walmart was using the cheap robots. Robots move slowly as opposed to running children.

I generally prefer finer dining than chain restaurants so I have no personal concern. This is an idea that looks good on paper, but sucks in reality.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
I, Robot. First thing that came to mind.

The Three Laws of Robotics


A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Edited in case you think I’m serious. I’ll out-nerd any of you.

My rotary sushi bar has them.

They have something similar but simpler at one of the pho joints in Bee Caves. If you can imagine a four-foot stepladder on wheels with a tray, a couple of cupholders and a small (between phone and PDA sizes) computer up top then you have a pretty good idea of what it looks like.

It's actually interesting to see how it works into the flow of running the restaurant. It's primary job seems to be delivering boba tea and sandwiches since it doesn't really have the size and capacity to carry four entrees. If it were any bigger it wouldn't really work on a restaurant floor where the distance between tables isn't too wide and where there tends to be a crowd, especially since much of the crowd is kids and/or teenagers at different parts of the day.

I don't know what means it has to avoid accidents; it may not have any. What does do (regardless of what music is playing on the restaurant's PA speakers) is play a steady stream of classical guitar music when the robot's in motion. FWIW, that does seem to keep people from crashing into it. OTOH, they come close enough to it that having dishes or silverware sticking out from the basic silhouette of the machine would not be a good idea at all.

I can imagine another problem with heavy plates as well. Imagine some lady (maybe a little old lady with not-so-strong wrists) trying to take plates off of the robot while she's talking on the phone and her grandkids are bouncing around in the wonderfully hyperactive manner of grandkids everywhere. I can imagine at least one of those plates hitting the floor or spilling all over the table.

So far they look like a reasonable way to supplement human servers and they're still something of a novelty with restaurant goers. Whether they'll wind up replacing human servers remains to be seen IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
The Sams floor cleaning robot ran right into me. Then it stopped and made a beeping sound. I was not injured but not happy. I guess Walmart was using the cheap robots. Robots move slowly as opposed to running children.

I tested the floor cleaning robot at Sam's Club the last time I was there. I stood right in front of it and was going to step back into a cove if it kept on going.

It didn't. It turned and went around me starting at about 10 feet away. I was impressed.

^^^^^^^^^^^
Impressive. We probably got last year's model. They have been absent on my recent trips.

Why even have the robot. Just shift the business to the fast casual model: order from the counter, then have staffer bring your order out to you.
If the restaurant isn't chasing stars or, looking to establish itself beyond a mid-tier dining establishment, just scrap the notion of 'service' and shift the model. To those customers who sit-down at an Applebee's or, Denny's thinking they're going to get some polished/pro-level of service, you're just kidding yourself.

I toured the Porsche factory probably 18 yrs ago and the robots they had delivering parts to workers were unreal. There was no chance of them not stopping for humans or other robots. They would travel hundreds of meters to pick up a load of pistons and cylinders and bring it to the guy who was installing them on a bench. Very impressive and probably old tech by now.