With the likes of Foxconn also replacing 60,000 of its workers with robots, it looks like the restaurant industry too, will see a shift in the robotic direction down the road. After all, it is more affordable to purchase a $35,000 robotic arm compared to hiring an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour while bagging food in the long run. Sure, there will be repercussions to think of when it comes to job losses, but that is how the new economy works – efficiency at the peak of it all.
Pizza Hut in Japan happens to be the first major chain to make use of robots to serve customers in its pilot program that is set to kick off later in 2016, with several models of Pepper being “employed” to take orders and accept payment.