Hospitality Tech

Good waiters and waitresses -- and I have had the good fortune to have been served by many -- help make the meal.

As the robots come, I shall go.

Besides, I enjoy cooking anyway.

Mr Jetson just ingested his dinner pill,and the waitron has served his "apraise-engest-apertif whiff(a fine replica 'odour de jour'wine aroma ,replete with essene of burp...!)

Kinda like rubbing the old parfume page on your wrist....do they still put those 'smelly's' in magazines? Does it come across in a Kindle?

Kinda like rubbing the old parfume page on your wrist....do they still put those 'smelly's' in magazines? Does it come across in a Kindle?

People go to resturants for human interaction.  Even  if the waitress reminds me of Ursala from "Mad About You" I'd still reather have a human take my order.   Robots will only add to our economic woes as it will decrease the number of jobs available.  In NYC we will have even more starving actors, artists and students if robot take over these jobs.    

What next?  Will robots become chef's and managers?  How do you know if a robot is a gourmet if he has no sense of taste or smell?  

Just saw this documentary of the Arkansas photographer Mike Disfarmer. Is there anyone here who had, or whose family had, been photographed by him; they interviewed some elderly people who had been photographed as children. There were scenes of contemporary life in the area too, which I found interesting!

oooh...I just found a video of robot chefs in this Japanese noodle shop in Nagoya.

http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/03/the-robots-are-the-chefs-in-this-japanese-restaurant/

I suppose the good thing about robot chefs is you won't get spit on your food if you insult him.

I feel our DNA craves the connectin between food and the craft of creating it. Personally, I think robot service is rediculous. I prefer working for my food, cooking it, eating it. When I go out to dine, I want the kind and fun interaction of those who are there to serve.

GRAYGOOSE:
I'm looking forward to your sunflower photos.
Congrats on your efforts.
You know how I love flowers.

"Waiter, there's a microchip in my soup."
"Sor ry, sir, I will call the man a ger it might be him."

This is not a new concept.  The Automat used to be popular in New York City.  When I think of the two times we ate at St. Michael's Manor in St. Albans in England with the exquisite food and incredible wait staff, I cannot imagine eating at a robot-served or touch-screen using restaurant.  Why bother?  When the best restaurants are reducing themselves to fast food places, then the industry might as well fold up its tents and go home.  Properly done, a restaurant dinner is an art and a performance.  Not a chance to shovel it down.  Robots?  Never!  Touch-screens?  Not for my money.

I hate the thought; the idea; the philosophy. Strong words for me, but when I have the pleasure of eating in a fine restaurant, I want to enjoy every aspect, which should include wait staff.

LYNN beat me to the punch, as I was about to say that we, as customers, have already rejected the concept here having allowed Automats to go out of business.

Frankly it is a concept so lame that its hard to work up a discussion about it as is evidenced by the tumbleweeds blowing through the Village today.

My personal preference is singing waiters.  If singing waiters are not an option, then singing cowboys are next on my list.  Howdy do, Chef Deb.  I am signing out for the day. It's road trip time again. Y'all have a restful rest of your weekend.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQc5gDXQGIs

Bet no matter who among us Eye people gets in on this discussion the responce will be 98% the same as the first 14.  We're people to people (people persons) or we wouldn't be chatting on the Eye. 
 
A good restaurant meal means good food, good service, atmosphere, and pleasntries all around.  I want to be able to say "thank you" and no thank you" to a responsive waiter or waitress, to be interuped, even when I have a mouthfull, by a smiling face with happy eyes asking if everything is all right, and I want to leave a tip of gratitude for making my time there what I had hoped it would be.  No electronic device is capable of doing that. 

I just love Roy's skinny jeans and those boots are to die for. Thanks PAOLOS.

Took a spin after church in the ragtop. To a little street cafe for brunch called Sky Blue in historic Edgefield, East Nashville. Had the French Toast stuffed with PB&J and got fresh squeezed orange juice "squozen" right before my eyes by a cute little server who gave a thumbs up for my bowtie and who was wearing a little patterned apron unique to her and unlike any of the others. Local artwork on the walls and smiles on the faces. People who knew it's a little slower when made by hand and took the slow hands time to converse or play from the box of Trivial Pursuit cards on the table.  Sometimes it is all about feeding the face. Sometimes it is all about feeding the soul. Sometimes both.

Hey! (Nudge,nudge, "will ya look at the headlights on our waitbot?")

On the other hand,a laser eyed waitbot could warm your tea right there by looking at it.....and tell you your HDL&LDL when you order.....

Imagine a future where food is manufactured and served before your EyE...can't get fresher than that....b wahahaha...hey,its a joke....unless,well, "Soylent Green is peeeeepulll!!"

Once as I was driving from Atlanta to Memphis I came up on a jacked-up pickup truck; back bumper just about level with my eye ;The 'busy' little bumper sticker read "Waitresses are people too. They are sensitive and they hurt just like you. Remember that the next time you park your ass in a booth!"

Good Grief, food from the Tin man, or woman as the case may be. Well, I just made my dad speghetti, sausage, eggplant parm for dinner, no ro-man or ro-woman could pull that off!!

First my Titans get waxed by the Patriots then Wallander's attempt to live a semi normal life ends up with dead bodies everywhere. It's at times like these that a strong cuppa of Joe from a waitress with a smile who calls you "Hon" can not be the same as a watered down mug from a cyber server named "Hal". What an Odyssey!

Hey Park, i bet you remember the Choo-Choo burger joint in DesPlaines. If you were able to score a stool at the counter, a Lionel Train hailing flat cars with with hand pressed cheeseburgers, fries, o-rings and terrific milk shakes would stop by your stool for you to unload.

We went there when I was just a little guy. I took my boys there when they were young, and I still pay homage to this shrine whenever I can. That is as automated as I woukd like such service to be,

Peace out

It's like being fed by the Terminator...he's morph into something lethal and they you'd go.  Terminators take over the world, not through computers but through restrauants.  (Not thaat people can't turn lethal, mind you, they just didn't make me think of that from the photo.  I imagined a spike going through the orange into my brachial artery!)

I loved the Automat when I was ten, and Horn and Hardart had been doing
a brisk business in NYC for about 47 years by then. I just remember being up
close and personal with a window sporting a big piece of lemon pie on the
other side, and selecting a veal cutlet with tomato sauce, which I considered
the epitome of sophistication. I cannot recall the taste of either item.

That having been said, I agree with Rusty's observation that most EYE folks
appreciate human interaction, and a well-served meal in a fine establishment is a
wonderful thing, indeed. On a more practical note, I have found technology in most instances to be counter-intuitive - often to an extremely frustrating degree. Only a programmer who frequented fine restaurants would be able to write a sufficiently
detailed program, and such a person would more than likely find the idea of a robot
in such a situation to be blasphemous.

Tawny, right you are about the likely programmers.. If lucky, they may hold a focus group or two and think they have all the nuances covered.

I always went for the egg salad sandwiches when we hit downtown around lunch hour.