My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Singaporean Timbre Group uses @InfiniumRobotic Drones as Waiters suggesting Robot Waiters are coming

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Singaporean Timbre Group uses @InfiniumRobotic Drones as Waiters suggesting Robot Waiters are coming

Well, it seems that my prediction of Robots taking over the work of Restaurant workers as predicted in my blog article entitled “Fast Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015” didn’t take long.


I’m of course referring to the news that a Singaporean Restaurant Group Timbre has begun to use Drone from Infinium Robotics as Waiters as reported in the article “Drone waiters are ready to serve in Singapore”, published February 17, 2015 3:49 AM PST by Hongzuo Liu, CNET News.

Here’s a video of the Infinium Robotics  Drones in action!


To some this may seem to be a gimmick, stating that it lacks the human touch based on the comments of a director of a NGO Stacey Choe, a local Singaporean Foodie with a penchant for Singaporean food, quote: “It provides efficiency especially at bigger establishments. So it could well be the future. I would be keen to try it, it's a novelty - but it's something that's not very attractive in the long run. I just think service needs to feel personal”.

So is it a gimmick or is this a solution to a problem and the start of something bigger?

Singaporean Timbre Group uses Infineon Drones as Waiters – Why Labour Shortage in Singapore means Robots are coming

To this end, the Timbre Group had begun using Infinium Robotics drones in a bid to counter this labour shortage as noted in the article “Drone waiters to plug Singapore's service staff gap”, published 8 February 2015 By Tessa Wong, BBC News.


The Timbre Group, which owns a chain of restaurants in Singapore, is facing a huge staff in the Food and Beverage industry. This is due to the fact that the majority of Singaporeans refuse to be seen working in low paying Jobs in the industry which in their society equates to being in a lower social bracket.

With the Singaporean government placing curbs on the importation of cheap foreign labour, many restaurants have actually closed due to the labour shortage in an industry that needs about 7,000 people, according to Singaporean Labour Ministry statistics on job vacancies.


These drones can carry up to 2kg (4.4lbs) of food and drink at Timbre, which translates to about two (2) pints of beer, a pizza, and two glasses of wine. The drones, which are fully autonomous, fly on preset pathways through the restaurant at chest level, navigating obstacles thanks to a bristling array of infrared sensor that allow them to avoid collisions.

Drones are technically Flying Robots. If a labour shortage continues, will this be the future of Fast Food in Singapore?

More interestingly, due to the ability to reduce the amount of money spend on salaries, will Fast Food restaurants in First World Countries such as Britain and American follow suit, now that the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) has laid out Drone Regulations since Sunday February 15th 2015as noted in my blog article entitled “FAA's Regulations for Drones - How UAS Benefit American Economy despite Restrictive FAA Regulations by 2016”?

More as the Drones take away our jobs as the first Tree Fall in the Forest of Cheap Fast Food Labour once populated by Humans...... Timbre!!

Infinium Robotics Twitter Handle: @InfiniumRobotic



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