Robot waiters serve food & dance at Bangkok restaurant

[Yukimura Sanada]

Robot waiters serve food & dance at Bangkok restaurant
By Channel NewsAsia's IndoChina Bureau Chief Anasuya Sanyal | Posted: 01 June 2010 0005 hrs
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BANGKOK : If you've ever wanted to take part in a Japanese themed sci-fi fantasy, there's a restaurant in Bangkok just for you. Once you step inside the Hajime Robot Restaurant, the warm greeting may be the last human interaction you have for a while.

Welcome to the future - where you place your order via touch screen and it comes to you by robot dressed in samurai garb. And the little ones seem to love it. "I came here to see the robots," said one Thai child

"The kids saw it on TV and told me they wanted to come," said one Thai parent. Summit Corporation made Hajime's owner's dream of having robots as servers a reality. But not everything in the restaurant is fully automated.

"For the drinks, it's self-service. We have to serve it ourselves because it's hard for the robot to serve the beverage," said Hajime's restaurant manager Wutthiphum Jurangkool.

And workers in the kitchen need to stack the right dishes in the right slot for the single armed robot to retrieve. "It's just different. However... human waiters are better because they can interact with you," said one restaurant patron.

"It's an unusual idea and I haven't seen any restaurant like this," said another. "It's kind of impressive because I've never seen robot waiters," said a third.

Aside from the food, diners have another treat in store - once an hour, the robo-waiters will turn up the volume and dance to the delight of customers. - CNA /ls