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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: What do you think of the robot restaurants popping up across China?
I've noticed a new type of novelty restaurant popping up across the country: ones that have robots as waiters. I've read about one or two on this site and also read something about one opening in Guangzhou not long ago. I think this is f***ed up. Who wants to go to a restaurant and be served by a robot!?! They can't think, don't have a personality and what's even worse, they're replacing human workers. I for one, find it worrying. In the UK, tesco workers are already being replaced by automated cashier machines which is similar to the robo waiter trend. At a time when employment is already scarce (in Europe anyway) shouldn't we be doing more to support jobs for humans. I can't believe I even have to say that!
10 years 51 weeks ago in Business & Jobs - China
the ugly thing about robots is when everything is done by a robot , who has a job to buy what the robot makes or provides service for.
damn, i didnt think about that, the world leaders say its great technology to create the jobs of tomorrow. complete horse crap.
in 1980, boeing had 22000 workers making a large plane, now 1500 workers to fix the robots that make the plane
american liberals will say new technology for more jobs. a big lie
american conservatives will say the same thing and defend it with the argument that manufacturing is one third of gdp , but dont mention that manufacturing is only 11 percent of the workers. a more deceitful lie
but i guess some wise arrogant leader who knows whats best for us will have a lottery system to see who does the jobs that robots dont do and the rest of us stay home living off a welfare check from a soon to be bankrupt government.
the more things change , the more they stay the same.
another interesting thought is now in korea, filipino teachers on a wide screen on skype teach english for 400 dollars a month instead of hiring a desperate foreigner who cant find a job in the great economies of the west. modern technology coming to a school near you to make your life better, dont forget , we are looking out for you because we know best.
Capital eschews no profit, or very small profit, just as Nature was formerly said to abhor a vacuum. With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10 per cent. will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent. certain will produce eagerness; 50 percent., positive audacity; 100 per cent. will make it ready to trample on all human laws; 300 per cent., and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged. If turbulence and strife will bring a profit, it will freely encourage both. (T. J. Dunning)
China invented the robot. China invented restaurants. Chinese robots think the same as Chinese people, so China is very wise to replace people with robots.
China is leading the world with robot waiters. All hail China.
I have seen this many times here, from the robots lined up outside the premises being given their daily programming to the robots who only react within the strict confines of that programming. Ask them anything outside of "go to table, take order, relay order to kitchen, repeat until business closes" results in total confusion as their programming tells them "does not compute". I am amazed though at how many of these robots look exactly like human beings.
Amonk:
Don't you hate how these things are made so cheaply? It makes a small mistake so you hit it to readjust it and it starts acting up even more. And you can tell it was made in China too because the voice recognition doesn't respond to your English...
I went to one of those restaurants! It was hillarious!! There was a mystical white screen behind which the 'robots' worked, but peeking behind it it looked an awful lot like a a guy putting things in at one end, a microwave, and a conveyor belt. Then when the food reached the other end a girl brought it to the table - where are the robots? Hahahaaa
Sounds like a copy of something that has been done in Japan long time ago.
diverdude1:
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. "
"I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. "
"This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardise it. "
In the short term it may seem like replacing waiters with robots is hurting people. In fact on the aggregate it is helping people because it will increase total production output. In the same way that people being paid to dig holes and fill them back in is a wasteful yet seemingly compassionate thing, so too is any and all tasks which can be performed in a more efficient manner. But what about that poor waiter? He is going to have to adjust and adapt, gain skills that are important in an ever-changing world. There were those who cried and whined when the car was invented, since the horse and buggy driver went out of business- that doesn't mean the car was a bad idea.
Well who needs a second child that will never have a job, long live the robots. By the way, who takes the mice out of the soup before you serve it. Never mine, silly of me, I forgot about the strainer robot for that.
hi2u:
Why don't you just start a new thread instead of resurrecting years old questions?
ambivalentmace:
why; have 2 questions on robots and restaurants? Also, you get to see how the topic has evolved with technology.