Image Credit: ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images
Robot waiters in China have been forced to join the unemployment line, after their human colleagues complained about their gross incompetence.
Two restaurants in the city of Guangzhou have been forced to shutter their doors after relying upon the robot waiters to bring in business for them, seemingly without realizing that the waiters in question weren’t particularly good at their job. A third restaurant has also drastically reduced its robotic staff, with there remaining only one robot waiter on its workforce.
Speaking to Workers Daily (translation via Shanghaiist), an employee of one of the restaurants said: “Their skills are somewhat limited. They can’t take orders or pour hot water for customers.”
Image Credit: ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images
Each robot worker was purchased for around 50,000 yuan (approximately $7,700), with the ongoing maintenance of these robots going on to cost thousands over time. Their inability to adequately perform their primary function – serving food – should have been the first indication that they weren’t a logical gimmick to hinge the future of three restaurants upon, which has since been acknowledged that their boss, who reportedly said: “The robots can attract plenty of customers, but they definitely can’t reduce the need for human labor.”
Here’s a look at one of the robots in action:
While artificial intelligence is steadily consuming jobs in a variety of sectors, it seems that at least in the service industry, we have a long way to go until there is no longer a need for us humans.
