The Robots Are Coming

Some restaurants suffer from slow or poor service and there is often the possibility of credit card fraud when wait staff disappear with your credit card. This book consists of an assessment of participants’ acceptance for mobile, humanoid robots in the role of robotic waiters in restaurants. The book also includes the consumer demand for Microsoft Surface Computers to be possibly used as restaurant tables capable of electronic order entry, payment, and entertainment. The social impacts of such high technology upon the human occupation of waiter or waitress were also examined relative to the resistance to automation from current human wait staff. The overall results of the study were moderate demand for robotic waiters, strong demand for Microsoft Surface Computers, and resistance to robotic waiters among most wait staff. This book will be useful to anyone who is interested in humanoid robotics or artificial intelligence. It will also appeal to restaurant managers who seek to increase workforce automation by using robotic servers with touch screen computers or tabletop devices for order entry, pay at the table, and games/entertainment for guests as they wait for their food.