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Shortly after customers order through a touch-screen on the
table, the 1.25-meter-tall robot, developed by South Korean
telecoms company KT Corp, brings the food and uses its visual
SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) capabilities to
avoid obstacles and navigate around customers.
The robot can deliver food to up to four tables at once, KT's AI
Platform Business Team leader Lee Young-jin told Reuters.
The A.I. robot is equipped with food trays which can carry up to
30 kilograms and an LCD screen and speaker that communicate in
both Korean and English.
"Customers found the robot serving quite unique and interesting,
and also felt safe from the coronavirus," said Lee Young-ho, a
manager at the Mad for Garlic restaurant which has tested the
robot this month.
From Monday, restaurants and cafes in the densely populated
Seoul metropolitan area are allowed to open after 9 p.m., but
must leave two metres between tables and record patrons' names
and contact details.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported
106 new coronavirus cases as of Monday, bringing its total
number of infections to 22,391 with 367 deaths.
KT said that they aim to supply more robots for restaurants this
year and will unveil a second model with A.I. voice recognition
technology early next year.
(Reporting by Minwoo Park, Dogyun Kim; Editing by Alexandra
Hudson)
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