A wise philosopher once wrote, ‘necessity is the mother of all invention’.
Plato’s words are especially relevant in today’s era of innovation.
Robots are entering the workforce at a rapid rate, especially the restaurant industry.
White Castle announced plans to introduce a burger-flipping robot named “Flippy,” and Hyundai Robotics says it’s partnering with KFC to develop chicken-cooking robots.
Here in Southwest Florida, ‘Champ’ the robotic food server, is already putting in 12-hour days at Lelulo’s restaurant in Cape Coral.
“It’s my version of The Jetsons,” says Lelulo’s Owner, Jorge Mazur.
Champ is designed to deliver food from the kitchen to the tables, without running into anything or anyone in the process.
Mazur says the servers still serve the food, but Champ does the heavy lifting.
“It opens up extra time for them to make sure your drinks are filled and take care of our customers,” says Mazur. “It’s a really big change to this industry.”
Mazur says he’s now considering other avenues of automation.
“I’m looking at a pizza topping machine from a company called Picnic,” says Mazur.
The company claims it can produce up to 100 pizzas per hour with the help of a human employee.
Mazur says it has less than one percent waste, which would save him a lot of money.
“I’m just trying to be as creative as I can,” says Mazur, “not to replace people with machines, but to be able to stay in business.”
Mazur says rising costs and staffing shortages are making it difficult to stay afloat.
“By using some automation, I’m hoping that will offset some of that struggle,” says Mazur.
Todd Brooks knows the struggle.
“It’s just staffing, staffing, staffing,” says Brooks, Owner of Brooks Burgers in Naples.
He’s getting ready to deploy two different kinds of robots.
They’ll be capable of the same tasks Champ is tackling in Cape Coral.
“They map out the entire restaurant, they know where all the tables are,” says Brooks.
Not only will they bring food to your table, they can even take your dirty dishes to the back.
“To be honest with you, it’s kind of sad,” says Brooks.
While Brooks says he misses the days where human interaction was welcomed, he recognizes the need to keep moving forward.
“If you don’t pivot and stay up with the times, you’re going to fall behind.”
It’s that sentiment that led John Casey to put ‘Crystal’ to work at his 3D printing shop on Fort Myers Beach.
“She came to be out of necessity, because I have a unique product,” says Casey, owner of 3DPicsnStuff.
Casey’s shop is located on the ground floor of the Lani Kai Resort, so there is plenty of foot traffic, but Casey said he needed help showcasing his craft.
Crystal helps him get people’s attention.
“I knew they would look at the robot, and they do,” says Casey.
Crystal stands nearly 6 feet tall, with a display case at her waist.
Casey puts a sample of his product in the case, essentially turning Crystal into a walking-talking advertisement.
“People are amazed,” says Casey. “They talk to her and assume she’s going to respond.”
Thanks to Crystal’s programmer, Patrick Whiteman, she can communicate using text-to-talk technology.
“Basically, I type whatever I want on the computer,” says Whiteman.
Crystal will then speak the words he’s written.
While Crystal is still a work in progress, Whiteman has big plans for her future.
“I’d like it to be a fully functional A.I. at some point,” says Whiteman.
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