Guangzhou restaurant fires clumsy robot waiters

Out of three Guangzhou restaurants that used robots to serve customers, two have closed and the third has fired its robot waiters, the Workers' Daily has reported.

Customers flocked to the Heweilai Restaurant chain in the southern Chinese city when it introduced robots last year, but the chain has stopped using the machines for a number of reasons.

A staff member said the robots couldn't effectively handle soup dishes, often malfunctioned, and had to follow a fixed route that sometimes resulted in clashes.

A customer also said the robots were unable to do tasks such as topping up water or placing a dish on the table.

Another restaurant in Guangzhou's Baiyun District said robots were used only because of a high turnover of waiters and waitresses.

However, the report said robots were mainly used to attract attention and don't help reduce human resource costs.

Zhang Yun, a vice president at the Guangdong University of Technology, said robots will be widely used within the manufacturing industry in the future, as many tasks are repetitive, but further development is needed before robots are able to work effectively in the service sector.