Eatsa, a San Francisco-based catering company, accepts orders through the iPad and distributes food through automated machines. So far, Eatsa has been using this technology to provide fried rice with quinoa for health food lovers in its restaurant. However, the company announced last Friday that it will expand its robot platform to the fast food and leisure chain restaurant Wabao next month.
At Wabo Restaurant in Chicago, you can order your favorite food through its application or at the on-site kiosk. But with Eatsa technology, you can also collect your food from the compartment with LED lights, which can display your name. In front of the compartment, there is a big screen that can display text content, telling you when your order has been completed, and when you can pick up your food by double-clicking the box.
For Eatsa, this is a rapid change. Just a few weeks ago, it announced the closure of five of the country's seven restaurants. The company now focuses on providing automation technology as a platform for other restaurants (such as Wabo).
The combination of artificial intelligence, personal screens, robots and (most importantly) the reluctance of hungry consumers to interact with humans makes the transformation of Eatsa possible. This is part of a slow-moving technology, which has changed the experience of eating out or even eating, thanks to the progress of express delivery technology.
Today, the concept of Eatsa seems a bit strange, but Neil Stern, a senior partner of retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle, said that we expect to see more such technologies emerge. He said: "Is it reasonable to hide orders and send messages through compartments? Maybe not. But Eatsa did put forward a vision for the future and copied or constantly strengthened it. "
65438+February 1, the first Wow Bao with Eatsa technology will be opened in Chicago Gold Coast Community. Through this technology, Wabo plans to double the number of its stores in 20 18. The company currently has seven stores, including airports, university campuses, hotels and stadiums.
Geoff Alexander, president of Wabo, said, "When I first heard that Eatsa opened in San Francisco, I jumped on a plane to see it." Alexander praised the technology as both interesting and efficient. He said: "I knew right away that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to integrate into our future stores."
Does the robot belong to the kitchen? In Eatsa and Wabo stores, robotics is the most important thing in restaurants. It provides services to customers and provides them with an on-call experience. In other restaurants, robots are still strictly confined to the kitchen.
In Cafe X and Zume in San Francisco, robots make lattes and pizzas respectively. Miso Robotics, a California startup, has developed a kitchen assistant robot called Flippy, which will make hamburgers in a restaurant in California in early 20 18.
Flippy not only mastered the flip operation. It also uses computer vision to track barbecue patties, turn them into perfect medium-sized foods (or make hamburgers), and ensure that they can be cooked safely. This robot is composed of ready-made components, such as sensors, cameras, mechanical arms and so on. The rest of the work is done by artificial intelligence, which may be trained to complete other kitchen tasks.
David Zito, CEO of Miso Robotics, said: "The beauty of our artificial intelligence software is that Flippy can learn the most needed tasks and make it flexible and adaptable. It can be applied to all kitchens, not just fast food restaurants."
This may be good news for the restaurant, but it doesn't sound good news for the restaurant staff. Unfortunately, for any chef who cooks fried food, the turnover rate of the catering industry is very high. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the turnover rate of this industry was 76% last year. Therefore, owners and managers are looking for more stable alternatives.
Earlier this year, Greg Creed, CEO of Yum! Brandes, who owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, told the American Consumer News and Business Channel that he predicted that by the mid-1920s, more and more robots would take on human roles. But he also provided some guarantees for the kitchen staff, pointing out that it would be "very difficult" to fully realize the automation of the restaurant.
He said: "I think this part of the process will change in the use of self-service terminals and mobile subscriptions. Manufacturing parts? I think we are still far from it. " Even Zito, who uses robots in the kitchen, said that he believes that human beings will continue to play an important role in the robot revolution.