I don’t want Robot waiters
Today on my Facebook feed I came upon a post about robot waiters in some cafes in Japan. It made me think how I would hate the concept of having robot waiters. Hear me out.
Firstly, I love the humane connection that we have with a waiter. It is very underrated. I love the small talk we can have with the waiter. I want to know a bit more about the restaurant. I want to know more about the menu. I want to know what the waiter recommends. I kind of get the vibe of the restaurant from the waiter. While this can go both positively and negatively, my experience has mostly been positive, especially in Japan.
Now replace that with a robot waiter. I can't imagine getting that same feeling from a robot. I won’t feel anything. The robot won’t add anything to the situation other than the food. It will do its job and go. This is great, no complaints there, but personally, restaurants are also about the experience. This adds nothing to the experience. This is similar to watching a movie in the theater and watching it at home. You can watch the same movie at home. It’s more comfortable for many people. But we still love going to theaters because a theater adds to the movie experience. Similarly, a waiter adds to the whole restaurant experience.
Moreover, the robots currently available don’t make much sense. They don’t add any kind of efficiency to the whole process. The people at the back still need to put the food on the robot. The robot can’t quickly grab things like a human. It needs help to do its job. It needs to be more developed.
That is why I don’t think we should have robot waiters. Maybe for some restaurants but not for the majority. Not for me at least.