[HN Gopher] Cat-Eared Robots Are Waiting Tables in Japan's Resta...
___________________________________________________________________
Cat-Eared Robots Are Waiting Tables in Japan's Restaurants
Author : xqcgrek2
Score : 38 points
Date : 2025-03-08 15:58 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| chvid wrote:
| Pretty sure those are Chinese robots though:
|
| https://www.pudurobotics.com/en
| OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote:
| Pudu is a chinese company but idk how that's necessarily
| relevant. Bellabots are rather common in Japan and other places
| as well. Kerfus for example is a branded Polish bellabot that's
| quite famous globally.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerfu%C5%9B
| chvid wrote:
| It is the same in Germany where you see them in Rewe and
| Mediamarkt with local branding.
|
| But my point was that the "cat ears" are a Chinese design -
| and not Japanese as implied by the headline.
|
| It is getting be big business though - Pudu has 80.000
| employees. So I guess some find them useful.
| signatoremo wrote:
| > not Japanese as implied by the headline.
|
| Neither the submission nor the Bloomberg's article headline
| implies the robots are Japanese.
| ooterness wrote:
| https://archive.is/tGsD3
| Natsu wrote:
| They're not just in Japan, they're already here in the USA and
| I've eaten at a place using them.
| anonzzzies wrote:
| I see them in a lot of places in europe too.
| msarrel wrote:
| I heard it's really difficult to measure the success of these
| rollouts because the cat-eared robots put the food on the table
| and then push it off.
| epcoa wrote:
| These are super common in Chinatown (pick one) restaurants in the
| US and they have been for a few years. I thought they were
| Chinese.
| chvid wrote:
| They are Chinese.
| devmor wrote:
| They have these at several ramen places here in Atlanta. I can't
| speak to their usefulness but they're quite cute.
| webdevver wrote:
| can a private indivdual buy one of these? and can they be taught
| to cook food aswell as serve it?
| schroeding wrote:
| Yes! (e.g. https://shop.fenka.de/products/pudu-bellabot)
|
| And no, sadly not. :(
| rogerclark wrote:
| These things really suck. The novelty wears off instantly. It's
| uncomfortable having to either stand up to get something from the
| robot or awkwardly reach over while sitting down. The moment when
| food comes out is the most likely time for customers to express
| positive emotion at a restaurant. You don't get to express
| gratitude toward human staff and the staff don't receive that
| positive feedback. The people working there are relegated
| entirely to cleanup and maintenance.
|
| But I guess the robot companies are making money.
| ryandrake wrote:
| > But I guess the robot companies are making money.
|
| This isn't the first time and won't be the last time the
| general public had to deal with things being worse, just so
| companies can make money. We can't have companies not making
| money. Good heavens!
| dannyphantom wrote:
| I work as a server on weekends to stay sane and for....some
| reason, corporate had the grand idea that automated cleaning
| robots (it's like a roomba but a bit taller) going around would
| improve the guest experience.
|
| Our floors aren't ever really filled with trash though! We're
| one of those 2010s-era brewpubs so it's a large, open space but
| these things are so awkward to navigate around and I wish so
| much that they would send them to the basement.
| peropero96 wrote:
| > I work as a server on weekends to stay sane
|
| Sorry for being nosy, is it about fighting loneliness? If
| that's the case, is it effective / something you'd recommend?
| I've been thinking about it for myself, and I worry that the
| physical exaustion, coping with nasty customers and lack of
| deep relationships on the job would make any benefit moot.
| dannyphantom wrote:
| Mostly to get a few miles of steps in, honestly. Throughout
| high-school, undergrad and grad school I worked as a server
| and it's just become something that helps me stay sane (and
| I love the food we serve tbh).
|
| For what it's worth, working as a server can be really
| helpful for loneliness though - at virtually every place
| I've worked, the coworkers become very close and good
| friends as we all commiserate together throughout the shift
| haha
|
| Serving did help me a ton with getting comfortable speaking
| in large groups of people; was a huge benefit - being able
| to strike up a conversation with just about anyone, build
| rapport and make a connection has been infinitely helpful
| in my personal and professional life.
|
| I'm sure there is a better way to frame this but when I
| approach a table of guests I kind of pull from a "rolodex
| of personalities" to instantly make them comfortable and
| build rapport (since it's kind of awkward on the guest
| side, too, if that makes sense) - it's like having hundreds
| of small, genuine conversations a day. Some tables can be
| toxic but they are quickly forgotten by another group who
| are incredibly fun to wait on.
|
| Definitely recommend trying it out at a non-corporate
| location if you have one! I work at a Rock Bottom which is
| a definitely a corporate owned brand but it's a lot less
| suffocating than a chain like Applebees, Olive Garden or
| others in that vein. A local place will give you a lot of
| agency and autonomy on how to manage your tables - the
| owner at the Mexican restaurant I worked at would walk up
| to your table and tell them to 'get the hell out' if they
| were being hostile towards you
| peropero96 wrote:
| thanks!
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| This is a really polarizing thing. I know a lot of people who
| value any extra opportunity to _not_ talk to someone.
| HPsquared wrote:
| Same as robot taxis.
| jfim wrote:
| I'd argue that robo taxis are a bit different. I've had
| some pretty sketchy experiences with poor driving on ride
| shares, and some women prefer having a robo taxi to a human
| driven one for evening rides.
|
| The only bad interactions I've had with restaurant staff
| was staff getting a bit irritated at ordering slowly.
| dist-epoch wrote:
| > You don't get to express gratitude toward human staff
|
| For some people, this is a feature.
|
| https://unbelievable-facts.com/2024/10/ichiran-the-japanese-...
| heeen2 wrote:
| Have you ever been to hama sushi, sushiroh or Kura sushi? These
| are chains where you order from a tablet and it gets delivered
| via belt to your seat or pick from the belt. You pay at an
| semiautomatic kiosk. Meeting the staff is optional
| pryelluw wrote:
| Local bowling alley has them. The wife ordered some stuff just to
| see it come by and wink at her.
|
| They still ask for a tip. Guess the robots gotta feed their
| electric sheep.
| baggy_trough wrote:
| Now that is crazy.
| __egb__ wrote:
| > They still ask for a tip.
|
| Finally, something to do with all the old sticks of RAM I have.
| t-3 wrote:
| This is basically just a roomba with trays on it, right?
|
| Are they being unloaded by the customers? The article gives the
| impression that it's just carrying the trays and a human waiter
| is unloading, which seems like just a very expensive cart.
| im3w1l wrote:
| I think you are underestimating the long term potential of
| robots like this to fit into a fully automated workflow.
|
| Imagine a tablet ordering system relaying to a fully automated
| cooking machine unloading into a fully automated tray carrier.
| These all exist, although automated cooking is mostly proof of
| concept for now.
| qwerty456127 wrote:
| > This is basically just a roomba with trays on it, right? Are
| they being unloaded by the customers?
|
| Yes. The customers are really happy wit this. Everyone likes
| cute kitty robots bringing dishes to their tables where they
| take everything themselves. The restaurants using these usually
| are more expensive than average. Here in the EU, I dunno about
| Japan.
| Szpadel wrote:
| if you are interested in this robot, this is off the shelf
| product called BellaBot
|
| fun fact Carrefour Poland decided to make it their mascot:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerfu%C5%9B
|
| they even sell this catface t-shirts and other wardrobe
|
| the robot itself from technological point of view looks kind off
| like oversized robot vacuum, but looks interesting anyways
| mattlondon wrote:
| They have these in CenterParcs in the UK. Bit of a novelty as a
| waiter still unloads the food and puts it on the table - the
| robot just brings it over.
|
| I guess there is more time for waiters to actually serve
| customers rather than spending time going back and forwards a lot
| ArtTimeInvestor wrote:
| I would like these if they had closed chambers that only open up
| when the robot arrives at the table.
|
| I wouldn't want to eat food that was driven unprotected through
| the restaurant. Other customers might have dropped something onto
| it. Or have touched it while grabbing their own food from the
| robot.
| Tagbert wrote:
| A Vietnamese restaurant near Seattle has one of these and they
| are both annoying and useless. The device rolls slowing between
| the tables playing a repetitive tune like a popsicle truck.
| Meanwhile the server walks along next to it and pull the food off
| the tray and puts it on the table. There is no labor saving or
| time saving benefit. I suspect that they do it just to seem "high
| tech" but its not impressive.
| vasco wrote:
| Just got served by a similar thing to these today in Amsterdam at
| a trendy seafood place. I thought I wouldn't like it but it was
| fine. Just get the plate and click the screen "Done". Smooth and
| no talking to anyone. Pretty nice.
| SunlitCat wrote:
| As already said, those kind of robots are available at other
| places as well, so this article, albeit a bit more fancy, seems
| to look like one of those "Oh no! Look how wacky Japan is!"
| articles! :D
| bawolff wrote:
| I've seen these in canada, especially at family resturants. Kids
| seem to love them.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-03-08 23:01 UTC)