Want To Step Up Your Robot Restaurant Cnn? You Need To Read This First

Automatic robot restaurants put a new spin on fast everyday

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They're not our conspirtors as of this time. At these restaurants, the robots are here to serve you.
When someone says "robot restaurant, " I first think of an LED and laser show at a Tokyo venue where remote-controlled robots dance with bikini-clad girls in a physical show that accompanies supper.

But the reality of robot restaurants is generally way more pedestrian and low-key.

One of these is Eatsa, the San Francisco-based restaurant company that takes orders through iPads and dispenses meals through automated machines. Until now, Eatsa has been using this tech to serve up quinoa bowls to health-food fans in the own restaurants. But the company announced Friday that it's expanding its robotic system to the fast-casual restaurant chain Wow Bao next month.

Tap on your cubby to get your food

At Chicago-based Wow Bao, you can already order your steamed buns via its iphone app or an on-site kiosk. But with Eatsa's tech, you'll also have the ability to acquire your meal from an LED-lit cubbyhole displaying your name. Text appearing on the front of the cubby, one amid a larger array, will tell you when your order is cooking so when you can double-tap on the box to acquire the food.

It's a quick turnaround for Eatsa, which only a couple weeks back announced the closing of five of its several restaurants across the country. The company has now changed its focus to offering automated tech as a platform to other restaurants such as Wow Bao.

A blend of artificial intelligence, personal screens, robotics and -- perhaps most crucially -- the willingness of hungry customers to skip human interaction is coming at the moment to make Eatsa's shift possible. It's part of a slow creep of technology which transforming our activities of dining out, and even dining in, thanks to advances in delivery technical.

Want To Step Up Your Robot Restaurant Cnn? You Need To Read This First

The first Eatsa-equipped Wow Bao will open in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago on Dec. 1. Using the technology, Wow Bao plans to increase its sites in 2018. It currently has several company-owned locations, plus air-port, university campus, hotel and stadium franchises.

"When We first heard about Eatsa opening in San Francisco, I jumped on a plane to come see it, " Wow Bao President Geoff Alexander said in a statement. Alexander praised the technology as both entertaining and effective. "I knew instantly that Eatsa would be the perfect technology to integrate into our future locations. "

Do robots belong in the kitchen?
In Eatsa and soon at Wow Bao, the automatic technology is front and center in the restaurant, serving customers and providing these an experience to go along with their takeout. In other restaurants, robots remain strictly consigned to the kitchen.

At Coffee shop X and Zume, both based in Bay area, automated programs make lattes and pizzas, respectively. California startup Miso Robotics has built a kitchen assistant robot called Flippy, which from early 2018 is expected to be grilling burgers in CaliBurger restaurants.


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