Mangaluru: Raise your hand for a plate of ‘goli baje’, the waiter takes your order to the kitchen and places the cooked meal on his robot helper. This four-foot-tall Japanese robot comes right to your table, and turns around so you can see and pick up from the tray(s) carrying your food.The eatery, part of a chain of hotels, has been experimenting with this for four months now. “It got traction on the internet in the past fortnight. People have been coming in to see the robot. We haven’t named her yet,” said cashier Prajwal.Robots, while increasingly present in the service sector, especially the hotel industry, are a first-of-its-kind companion in the coastal city, a fountainhead of edu-tech and med-tech innovations.“Your meal has arrived, please pick up your meal,” the robot says, carrying food to patrons. “Please enjoy your meal, I’ll get back to work,” she says, turns around, and goes back to the pick-up point to process other orders.In the past, Bengaluru and Shivamogga had their share of humanoid and service robots.Biju Thomas, CEO, Paakashala, agreed about the labour shortage issue hitting the hotel sector. He said: “The robot works in integration with existing staff, not replacing them. It is effective during rush hours. There is still someone picking up the orders for it and placing them on it. And there is still a general socio-psychological factor of having humans in a dining space who talk to you, which is irreplaceable.““We had our first robot in Bengaluru a year ago. Continuing with its success, we deployed one in Mangaluru,” he added, looking to more such innovations in upcoming outlets.Meanwhile, Kudpi Jagadish Shenoy, president of Dakshina Kannada Hotel Owners’ Association, told TOI: “While this is a first in Mangaluru, the trend might not pick up in city-based hotels, as regular maintenance would require you to head to Bengaluru.”However, within the kitchen, where there has been a labour shortage for a while, the integration of machines is imperative. “While serving and cleaning staff are still not much of an issue, we are not getting skilled workers for cooking south Indian and north Indian dishes. Automation in cooking is happening in one or two hotels as of now,” he added.
