Kenya now has robot waiters serving food to customers. Are they threatening human labour?
Image of robot waiters serving food in Nairobi.
In a first, the robot waiters have been introduced in a restaurant called Robot Cafe where theyare carrying plates of meals on their inbuilt trays and serving them to the customers in Nairobi.
This is the first of its kind eatery in Nairobi and East Africa where robots are seen moving among the human waiters as mesmerised customers watch and click them while they serve food.
The restaurant had acquired these preprogrammed robots for the entertainment of the customers.
Cafe owner Mohammed Abbas said that he witnessed robot services in Asian and European countries and decided to make an investment in this technology.
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"It was very expensive to import the robots," Abbas said but added that the investment has borne fruit since the restaurant is "often busy with curious customers" who are coming to the restaurant only to experience robot service.
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"I can say it is something unique because here in our country Kenya, I have never seen a restaurant like this one so I think for me, it is a good idea from the owner of this restaurant," the owner said.
Can these robot waiters converse with customers?
The three robots introduced in the restaurant - Claire, R24 and Nadia - have not been completely programmed and hence are unable to have entire conversations with customers.
But these robots have the capability to say "Your order is ready, Welcome". The customers then are required to pick up their food from the tray and then press an exit button.
The waiters can command these robots using an application on an iPad.
In the operations of the cafe, human waiters are still required because they accept orders from customers who are not willing to place orders online.
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Then, the waiters are supposed to place the food on the tray of the robot once it is ready and deliver only drinks to the customers in person.
The cafe's manager said that robots cannot replace human waiters as they cannot provide all services.
"At no point are the robots able to fully function in all the services that are supposed to be ongoing in the restaurant without the human touch," said manager John Kariuki.
"The robots are actually way too expensive for us to acquire, so if you are trying to save money, it is not going to work if you choose to go the robotic way," he added.
(With inputs from agencies)