[ivanstojic]

There’s a number of restaurants in LA that use robots for delivering drinks to your table. I found them strange the first time I saw them but eventually they become invisible.

I’ve never yet seen them misbehave in a notable way, but they seem like nothing more than trays with wheels and basic path finding.

[acdanger]

Care to share what kind of restaurants are using these? I’m guessing they’re more the cafeteria-style places. My family owns a few fine dining restaurants and are constantly getting sales people trying to sell them robot food runners. It’s always an amusing sales pitch.

[ivanstojic]

Kura Sushi (https://kurasushi.com/) that's mentioned in the comments is one place, but there are also a few others whose names I can't remember in the Sawtelle Japantown. It's worth noting that Kura is highly automated and you don't have to interact directly with staff after you are seated.

All of them basically center their feel around the futuristic automation spiel.

[Octoth0rpe]

Near me (SE Michigan), I've seen them at 3 locations total: Kura Sushi (a conveyor sushi chain that's starting to enter the market) at 2 locations, and at a small asian boba shop in Lansing named Koala Tea and Bakery. Notably the second of those seems locally owned/operated. There are probably others. I wouldn't call either cafeteria style, though they're also not 'fine dining'.

[comfypotato]

What's amusing about the sales pitch? (I'm always looking for a laugh.) Amusement is actually what I got out of the article. It was nice to shake the dystopian vibes that I associate with workers being replaced by robots. Something about the hospitality industry and (as described by the author) "bimbly" robots is light and fun.

[tomjakubowski]

Also curious where these robot drink servers are. I only know the (fantastic) drink-pouring robot at Two Bit Circus.[1]

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgGZQNx-qN0

[mc32]

There was an outfit that was making these to deliver food to hospital patients a few years ago. Don't know if it ever became a thing in hospitals though.

[user982]

How much did you tip them?

[labster]

About the same degree as I tip milk cows.

[midoridensha]

This would easily sway my decision about going to such a restaurant over its competition, once I found out they use these robots. Not having to pay 25+% tip makes a huge difference in my bill.