The Tea Terrace unveils robotic waitress
The chain says it looks to introduce more robots in its work force in the future.
The Tea Terrace has introduced a robotic waitress, in what it says will be a pilot for the introduction of more robots in its work force in the future in the face of rising labour costs.
The British chain of restaurants and tea rooms named the robot Theresa, in a nod to the former Prime Minister Theresa May.
“Theresa represents the 6th Generation of robotic waitresses which were first launched in Japan a few years ago. The robot comes with autonomous navigation; automatic obstacle avoidance, voice conversation, and automatic dish delivery. It integrates core technologies in automatic control, multi-sensor perceptual collision avoidance and route planning,” The Tea Terrace managing director Ehab Shouly said.
The robot comes with a double-tray designed to reduce waiters’ repeat work such as food and drink delivery and carrying heavy trays of drinks such as teapots. “We don’t plan to replace our staff with robots entirely. But the idea is to help them and to make their job easier,” said Shouly.
The chain says the robot can also speak to customers and tells them what it is serving. She then will ask them to tap its arms so that she can go back to her base to serve other customers.
“If Theresa senses a person in its route, it will stop and then frown and ask the person to move out of its way before she continues on her way. This is part of the safety mechanism we developed for her with the robotics laboratory that manufactured Theresa for us in Japan,” Shouly said, adding that Theresa uses laser-guided trackless navigation and ultrasonic obstacle avoidance.
The robot’s face also comes with LED Dot Matrix which allows it to show diverse facial expressions by flashing its eyes and either smiling or frowning. The robot runs 365 days a year and its battery requires charging overnight every other day.
