A new era! Guests are served by a robot. It works non-stop and doesn’t want a vacation. Visitors who visited the Silvie restaurant in Orlová in recent days couldn’t believe their eyes. They were served by a robot. Read the article about our new feature in Patriot magazine.
The world is moving forward rapidly and modern technology is developing at a rapid pace. However, no one would expect to see a robot in Orlová. The new helper has been part of the staff at Silvie in Orlová for a few days now, which has become (along with one Prague establishment) the first restaurant in Europe to use this type of robot for service.
The robot springs into action when an order needs to be delivered to a table. “It arrives at the guests’ table, plays a recorded message, and the guests then collect their food. A waiter can also go to the table with the robot, but based on initial experience, guests are happy to pick up their food from the robot themselves,” said Miroslav Hampel from the Ostrava-based company KVADOS, which imported these robots to the Czech Republic through its subsidiary BETTAROE Robotics.
Is it safe?
The restaurant staff sets the table number to which the order should be delivered on the robot’s display. “The robot has sensors on all sides, so it is very safe. Even though it can move quite fast, it won’t bump into anything. If someone stands in front of it, it will warn them,” added Hampel.
While robots in restaurants are a novelty in the Czech Republic, they are already commonplace in China, where they originate.
“Thousands of them are deployed in Asia. This model is very well made and is also popular in restaurants designed for parents with children. When children touch it, it talks to them, and it is also designed to look like a cat. The upper part is shaped like a cat’s head,” said Miroslav Hampel.
There are only two of these robots in our country so far, but their number should increase soon. “There are ten more in the plane. Demand for them has been boosted by the coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed restaurants. In many places, waitstaff have discovered that they can earn a living in ways other than running around serving guests, and so they have not returned to restaurants. Robots are able to do some of their work,” said Hampel.
In the future, robots in restaurants may not only deliver food to tables, but also clear away empty plates. This would be done using QR codes and special apps that guests could use to summon the robot.
Works seven days a week
A smaller model could also be launched soon, which has two shelves instead of four and is narrower, making it suitable for use in cafés. “We already have one order for a larger chain of cafés in Slovakia,” revealed Hampel, who also talked about another new development: “We are also planning to order a model for a hotel, which will perform the function of room service. It has a compartment where it can store a sandwich or a drink, and the robot can deliver the order to guests in their rooms. It even calls the elevator itself, arrives at the given floor, calls the guest, and waits with the order outside the door.”
Robots are no longer a thing of the future, but a reality of the present. The price for a robotic waiter, which helps out in a restaurant in Orlová, is around 350,000 crowns before tax.
“But we also rent out robots, for around 15,000 crowns a month. It works seven days a week, doesn’t want any vacation, and can even handle two shifts,” Miroslav Hampel smiled at the end.
Source: Patriot, Petr Sobol: https://www.patriotmagazin.cz/nova-doba-hosty-obsluhuje-robot-dela-nepretrzite-a-nechce-dovolenou
We supply catering robots through our company BETTAROE Robotics, which became part of the KVADOS GROUP this year. Bettaroe began to specialize exclusively in the field of facility robots, their development, sale, distribution in Europe, and above all, their installation and long-term service. Thanks to the support of the KVADOS group, it has expanded its ability to offer robots on a short-term or long-term rental basis.
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