PINEVILLE, N.C. — Restaurants continue to struggle. Many are understaffed and the employees they do have may feel overworked. But a new restaurant in Pineville is filling staffing holes with robotic waiters.
Shortages are facing almost every industry, especially the food industry. At Yiding Hot Pot, they've come up with a different kind of solution to hiring: replacing waiters with robots.
Robots named Wall-e and Eve after the popular movie WALL-E can deliver food to your table. They use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to learn the routes of the restaurant.
So, it poses the question, are robot waiters the future? It's a growing trend the restaurant industry is trying to answer.
Alice Wang, the owner of Yiding Hot Pot, believes it provides a better experience for customers and staff, saying the robot helps eliminate labor for the worker, who then can better serve the customer.
She also said there's a long way to go before robots replace humans.
Wang said the robots cost about $10,000 but it's worth every penny because they don't collect a salary. As for tipping, there are still other staff members helping serve your meal that you can tip.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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