The Boy Who Cried Robot: A World Without Work

[garbon]

What anti-social nerds. Time for a cull.

That is so my son.

He is anti-social to a fault, it is starting to really worry me.

On the positive, I was quite anti-social until I'd moved away from my hometown and got to hangout with people I actually liked. I learned in retrospect that my parents had been quite worried.

[Razgovory]

I was anti-social before it was cool.

[Iormlund]

Yeah, it is my dream to go to a restaurant without human interaction.  So far there has been very little progress though.  The most I have seen is that some mainland Chinese restaurants have experimented with giving customers ipads to order food.  It works for me, but lots of people dislike going through menus themselves.  My parents-in-law never touch restaurant menus.  Most restaurants already have terminals that allow waiting staff to input orders.  They just have to make the system available to customers.

The other part that can be automated is billing.  I think there should be a small terminal on each table for ordering food, printing the bill and making credit card payments. 

The parts that are far more difficult to automate are bringing food to the table and clearing the dishes.  I have read reports that some mainland restaurants have experimented with using robots, but they only really travel along fixed tracks.  It is more a gimmick than something that works. 

And of course, the actual cooking.  I think generally, machines and AI are better at information processing than complex mechanical movements, so I don't think cooking can be automated on a large scale for now.

If the space is rectangularish you could install a robot hanging from a overhead crane-like rail-system to deliver food. Customers would drop RFID-tagged dishes at some place. The system could also have sensors to sweep the tables and charge customers extra if something is detected prior to cleaning them.

[Valmy]

Hey a rare Iorm post. Good to see you.

[Iormlund]

Hey a rare Iorm post. Good to see you.

Yeah I don't post much lately. I spend most of my weekends at Barcelona with my gf so I have much less time for you guys.

[Eddie Teach]

You should post at work like most of these slackers.

[garbon]

You should post at work like most of these slackers.

Hear, hear!

[Iormlund]

 

I spend most of my day at the factory floor, the lab or running from one meeting to the next.

[The Brain]

I spend most of my day at the factory floor, the lab or running from one meeting to the next.

"Mobile devices no exist in my country!"

[Monoriu]

I think the electronic ordering system is more than just a way to cut down on the number of staff and reduce errors.  Because the ordering can be done in advance.  Instead of ordering the food and drinks on the spot, customers can choose to place their orders a day or two in advance over the internet.  This cuts down on food preparation time (leads to higher table turnover) and allows restaurants to make more accurate assessments in inventory management. 

[Monoriu]

If the space is rectangularish you could install a robot hanging from a overhead crane-like rail-system to deliver food. Customers would drop RFID-tagged dishes at some place. The system could also have sensors to sweep the tables and charge customers extra if something is detected prior to cleaning them.

I don't understand why the dishes need to be tagged.  Some of the cafeterias that I go to expect customers to place used dishes in designated spots.  We just do it.  The Japanese also like it that way.  Why tag the dishes in the first place?

[Josquius]

Yeah. One of the big conveyor sushi chains in japan counts how much you've eaten via counting the empty plates you post down a slot by your table (10 plates and you get a chance to win a prize )

[Siege]

Other: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36443512

Go Switzerland!

The US would need 9,811,200,000,000 a year to pay 2,555 a month to everyone here.

[Siege]

I think the electronic ordering system is more than just a way to cut down on the number of staff and reduce errors.  Because the ordering can be done in advance.  Instead of ordering the food and drinks on the spot, customers can choose to place their orders a day or two in advance over the internet.  This cuts down on food preparation time (leads to higher table turnover) and allows restaurants to make more accurate assessments in inventory management. 

Wow.
This is brilliant!

[Iormlund]

If the space is rectangularish you could install a robot hanging from a overhead crane-like rail-system to deliver food. Customers would drop RFID-tagged dishes at some place. The system could also have sensors to sweep the tables and charge customers extra if something is detected prior to cleaning them.

I don't understand why the dishes need to be tagged.  Some of the cafeterias that I go to expect customers to place used dishes in designated spots.  We just do it.  The Japanese also like it that way.  Why tag the dishes in the first place?

I assume those cafeterias have staff that can clear the tables if someone is being an asshole and not doing it. In this scenario I was going for a fully automated system. The most important part of designing an automated system is making sure it can deal properly with assholes and morons.