Robot-themed Restaurant, Science Friction on the Tip of Tongue

    When entering the restaurant, you can see many robots standing uniformly in front of you. Is that amazing? “Bumblebee” will escort you, the singing and dancing robot will arrange your table, and the chefs, attendants and buspersons are all robots… This is what you can see around us, but not the scene in outer space. Yesterday, the restaurant with the most robots in Anhui was opened in Hefei and we have visited the restaurant in advance for you.
   
Cookers and waiters are all robots   
    Optimus and Bumblebee were standing at the entrance of the restaurant to welcome the customers while the dancing and talking protocol droid was twisting its waist to serve the guests. After entering the restaurant, tiny robots with heart-shaped red eyes were walking across the tables with trays. After telling the ordering robot what you want to eat after sitting down, the robot chefs would start cooking your delicious dishes later.    This is not what you can see in films. Located at a new shopping mall on Meishan Road, this robot-themed restaurant will be formally open in Hefei tomorrow. The reporter felt as if he was in the outer space when entering this restaurant yesterday.
    The restaurant also introduces two entertainment robots if you think eating only is boring. During your time of eating, you can play chess with it or let the “face robot” to draw your profile by smiling at it.
    According to Ms. Xi who is responsible for the shopping mall, this restaurant is an independent brand of the mall. It plans to introduce over 30 robots and 19 have already been delivered to the restaurant at present, among which most are dish delivery robots. Outer side of the restaurant is surrounded by various robots for decoration purpose.

Robot chef can cook dozens of Chinese and western-style dishes
    This robot restaurant is engaged in simple food, western-style food and Cantonese-style food; two robot chefs are well prepared to cook delicious cuisines for you in the open kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.
    What can they cook? Wow, that’s pretty much. We can find various simple home style fried dishes and western style dishes in the menu. According to the restaurant, they have currently mastered dozens of dishes and this number will increase in the future.
    Two chefs professionally showed their way of work for us yesterday. According to the chef of the restaurant, real chefs are also required to enable the robot chefs cook delicious dishes. “They cannot cut food now, so we need to cut the food and put them in plates for them.”
    The dish cooked by the robot yesterday is called fried water chestnut. By placing the raw materials beside the robot chef and turning on the switch, it will automatically pour oil in the pan and then pour various materials gradually after the oil is heated. Meanwhile, different saucing juices will be automatically poured into the pan from the small window at left of the robot and the food will be stirred at the same time. About 5 minutes later, a home style dish with the perfect combination of outstanding color, flavor and taste is made.

The secret for delivering delicious dishes to tables lies in the light sensitive tracks
    Dish delivery robots are the most surprising robots in the restaurant. How can they deliver the dishes to each table? According to the program designer of the restaurant, the secret lies in the black tracks in the ground. These tracks look just like ceramic tiles, but the robots can identify the tiny difference and run along the tracks due to the difference between the tracks and ceramic tiles in photographic sensitivity. “What we are proud of is that the tracks we used have two ways and more advanced program is required to choose the direction and to avoid collision with other robots.” As a matter of fact, these stylish tracks are only black tapes and white cards need to be arranged beside the table if you want the robot to stop there.
    Many diners came here to visit yesterday and they first enjoyed the dish delivery service offered by robots under the arrangements of the restaurant assistant. After the chef puts the hot dishes cooked by robot chef on the tray in front of the dish delivery robot and clicks the button in its head, the tiny thing will immediately have heart-shaped eyes and go straight to the table of the customer. Its speed is not fast and it will stop near the table of customer, so you need take the dishes from the tray by yourself if you want to eat the dishes delivered by it.

“Cute” innovation for both marketing and scientific research
    According to Ms. Xi, except for the adaption to market needs, this robot-themed restaurant is created to economize human resources and to facilitate scientific researches. “Currently, our company is cooperating with a university in the R&D of robots for multiple functions and they will also enter this restaurant in the future.”
    These “cute” attendants in the restaurant are really fresh for citizens. Many specially come here to take photos with them. “This idea is really innovative and refreshing. It turns eating into an enjoyment and makes us feel as if we had traveled to 20 years later" said by Mr. Xu, who expressed that he would bring his child to eat the specialty named “Star Wars” when the restaurant enters operation.