People worried about robots taking their jobs may be concerned when hearing that a restaurant chain in Singapore has plans to use flying robots as waiters.
The robot fleet, called Infinium-Serve, will be given the task of waiting tables at five Timbre Group locations at the end of next year, according to Channel News Asia. Both companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Oct. 31 and are looking for productivity-related government grants to take care of deployment costs.
Woon Junyang, CEO of Infinium Robotics, estimated that the project will cost a "low seven-figure sum," and that the cost will depend on final negotiations and certain variables pertaining to the robots' actual deployment.
The project comes at a time when strict restrictions on the amount of foreign workers allowed in Singapore are causing a labor shortage in the island state, mostly in the service area, RT reported. Woon believes employing robots will help solve the labor problem and give human waiters the chance to focus on getting customer feedback, ordering wine and other more interesting tasks of higher value.
"This will result in an enhanced dining experience which will eventually lead to increased sales and revenue for the restaurants," Woon said.
Prime Minister Lee Hisen Loong got to see a prototype of Infinium-Serve in action in a demonstration at the inaugural launch of National Productivity Month in early October.
