A restaurant in Harbin, China’s Heilongjiang Province, has 18 different robots on its staff, doing all kinds of jobs usually given to humans.
Opened in June 2012, the Robot Restaurant has gained fame for using robots ranging in height from 1.3m to 1.6m to cook meals and serve dishes. The robots can work continuously for five hours after a two-hour charge and are able to portray over 10 expressions on their faces and say basic welcoming sentences to customers.
The robots were designed and created by the Harbin Haohai Robot Company.
According to Chief Engineer Liu Hasheng, around 5 million yuan (€600,000) was invested in the restaurant, with each robot costing from 200,000 to 300,000 yuan (€25,000 – €37,000).
With an average cost per dinner of between €4,50 and €7,50, the company won’t be recovering their investment anytime soon, but they believe the project serves as a great advertisement for what the robot company can create.
