Robots/Robotic Restaurants (split from Openings & Closings)

Dave148 wrote:

Nala Robotics, Inc. announced today that it is opening the world’s first state-of-the-art intelligent restaurant, in Naperville, Illinois, at Route 59 and Ogden Ave. this April, 2021.

https://nalarobotics.com/press.html

Thanks for the warning about what this place is. I'll pass. I prefer a good, old-fashioned restaurant with people on the hot line in the kitchen.

John Danza wrote:

Dave148 wrote:

Nala Robotics, Inc. announced today that it is opening the world’s first state-of-the-art intelligent restaurant, in Naperville, Illinois, at Route 59 and Ogden Ave. this April, 2021.

https://nalarobotics.com/press.html

Thanks for the warning about what this place is. I'll pass. I prefer a good, old-fashioned restaurant with people on the hot line in the kitchen.

Yep, there is nothing that adds to the deep satisfaction of well prepared food like spit, sweat and hair.

I'm all for automation of repetitive tasks, but I think the interesting question will be whether the menu prices reflect that robotic technology is being used to reduce human labor costs.

The value proposition may be the ability to offer a wide variety of cuisines and styles from a single location. The big question is if the high quality implied in the marketing materials will actually be achieved.

Alternately, the combination of price, quality and variety could be within the normal range but the consistency will be exemplary.

Wonder how much actual preparation the robot chef will do? Will it make the dishes from single ingredients or, at the other end of the extreme, simply plunk premade dishes in the microwave?

An engineer-driven venture into the world of international cuisine? Makes me want to never go. Can't they try a proof of concept first? How about Robo-Diner? Impress me with your grilled cheese skills and then maybe I'll trust you with a more complex dish.

Will the amuse bouche be mixed nuts and bolts?

In many restaurants, you are already seeing a lot of automation in kitchens. How many places buy nearly all of their produce pre-prepped? In my first kitchen in a 450 bed hospital with a huge cafeteria that served the entire community, we had two cooks who did nothing but mise en place. When the line cook went to make 800 portions of meat sauce (for spaghetti with meat sauce), everything was preportioned out for him on a cart. These days, if the sauce itself was not make in a central commissary, all of the produce would still come in processed.

About five years ago, I participated in a focus group for a chain of family restaurants that will remained unnamed. We tried 15 different dishes. For each dish, we got a taste of the store made and a taste of the commissary in a blind test. The management wanted to know if we could tell the difference as they wanted to remove labor from the stores as that state was raising their minimum wage.

Having said that, I am not sure how robots will do this as robots are great for repetitive actions on identical parts (i.e., welding machines on perfectly formed parts). They are not good when the tolerances on the parts are not that close. Food is rarely identical.

It's not of much use to paint with a broad brush here. There are some venues in which robotics and/or automation probably make perfect sense and would not have much impact on food quality. And of course, there are others where it would make no sense at all and would likely impact the food in a negative way.

Burger King has been using that conveyor belt for decades and while their food isn't good, we can probably all agree that that's not the reason why. Otoh, many rice cookers are effectively robotic and they make rice way better than most of us ever could on our own. And there are plenty of places -- across the spectrum -- that use rice cookers.

I guess I'll just have to look at robotic venues on a case-by-case basis. I'm a huge fan of hand-crafted food but I'm also in favor of automating functions that are more efficiently handled in that way. While their implementation might be expensive and there are undoubtedly maintenance costs, robots never call in sick.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote: robots never call in sick.=R=

True, they just stop functioning properly with nary a word.

HUMANS, BEWARE . . . All your batter are belong to us!



=R=

And they happened to place this restaurant at the death corner where many have tried and failed.

VAI's Italian which is located in the same shopping area (Fox River Commons) has made it work and succeeding. Otherwise, Bakers Square is the latest victim to closed down.

I keep asking myself, why this location other than probably cheap rent to save cost.

Nothing ruins a nice steak dinner than an overcooked or undercooked expensive piece of meat. If a robot will cook a steak to perfection every time (or a burger or chicken, etc) then I am all for it. I can't think of all the minutiae that comes with prep and cooking that would be automated but like Ronnie said - on a case by case basis - I am definitely intrigued to see where this goes. Robots can certainly break (but can be repaired). They won't call in sick, won't take a vacation, and could work 24/7 without a break. A.I. is coming. Not if, but when.

Ram4 wrote:Nothing ruins a nice steak dinner than an overcooked or undercooked expensive piece of meat. If a robot will cook a steak to perfection every time (or a burger or chicken, etc) then I am all for it. I can't think of all the minutiae that comes with prep and cooking that would be automated but like Ronnie said - on a case by case basis - I am definitely intrigued to see where this goes. Robots can certainly break (but can be repaired). They won't call in sick, won't take a vacation, and could work 24/7 without a break. A.I. is coming. Not if, but when.

Can we replace Ronnie with a robot.

Dave148 wrote:

Ram4 wrote:Nothing ruins a nice steak dinner than an overcooked or undercooked expensive piece of meat. If a robot will cook a steak to perfection every time (or a burger or chicken, etc) then I am all for it. I can't think of all the minutiae that comes with prep and cooking that would be automated but like Ronnie said - on a case by case basis - I am definitely intrigued to see where this goes. Robots can certainly break (but can be repaired). They won't call in sick, won't take a vacation, and could work 24/7 without a break. A.I. is coming. Not if, but when.

Can we replace Ronnie with a robot.

How do you know I'm not one?

=R=

Ram4 wrote:If a robot will cook a steak to perfection every time (or a burger or chicken, etc) then I am all for it.

A robot may not overcook a protein or, through inaction, allow a protein to be overcooked.

cilantro wrote:A robot may not overcook a protein or, through inaction, allow a protein to be overcooked.

Unless doing so would violate the Zeroth Law:
A robot may not harm the restaurant’s business or through inaction allow it to be harmed.

Example. The robot learns that one of steaks harbors a dangerous toxin. To prevent the steak from being consumed and bring on a lawsuit it overcooks the meat so that it will not make it out of the pass.

ronnie_suburban wrote:How do you know I'm not one?

=R=

I read this as:

=R=
For the Robots

Willkat98 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:How do you know I'm not one?

=R=

I read this as:

=R=
For the Robots

Hahaha! My wife would tell you that my attention span isn't as long as a robot's!

=R=

DoorDash has acquired salad-making robot company Chowbotics.

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272 ... alad-robot