Just Like Mombot Used to Make

Just Like Mombot Used to Make (includes photos)

Then, a month later in Nagoya, Japan, the Famen restaurant opened, with two giant yellow robot arms preparing up to 800 bowls of ramen a day. When it’s slow, the robots act out a scripted comedy routine and spar with knives.

“The concept of this restaurant is that Robot No. 1 is the manager, which boils the noodles, and Robot No. 2 is the deputy manager, which prepares for soup and puts toppings,” said Famen’s owner, Kenji Nagaya.

Video of the robots in action
(their scripted goofing around starts about halfway in — all in Japanese)

“How do you get a service robot to interact with humans?” Dr. Rybski asked. “That’s a real hard problem. It’s different when you’re working with a human versus a pipe on an assembly line.”

Imbuing this type of service technology with some sense of playfulness would go a long way to humanizing it.

While not exactly Showbiz Pizza’s Rock-afire Explosion (video — scenes of animatronic characters are at about 30 seconds in), Mr. Nagaya’s Famen restaurant takes a crack at doing just that. 

(via Stand-Up Economist)