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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