Restaurants in China Fires Robot Staff for Incompetence

It seems we shouldn’t worry about automation taking away jobs from us humans just yet, with one restaurant in Guangzhou, China being forced to “fire” its robotic staff members for incompetence, while two others with robot waiters going out of business.

Human staff members, who worked alongside the inept machines, had nothing positive to say about their robotic colleagues, unsurprisingly.

“The robots weren’t able to carry soup or other food steady and they would frequently break down,” one employee of the unnamed restaurant that fired its robot staff told Workers’ Daily (translation via ShanghaiList). “The boss has decided never to use them again.”

“Their skills are somewhat limited,” another waitress said, accusing the automatons of failing to perform tasks vital for restaurant waiting staff. “They can’t take orders or pour hot water for customers.”

“The robots can attract plenty of customers, but they definitely can’t reduce the need for human labor,” the restaurant’s owner added.

“Zhang Yun, vice-principal of Guangdong University of Technology, explained that while robots were excellent at improving productivity in the manufacturing industry where tasks are repetitive, they were unable to perform well in fields where frequent human interaction was necessary,” ShanghaiList explained.

Despite reports that automation could render half the world’s population unemployed within 30 years, a number of companies are moving away from using robotic workers in favour of human input, with Mercedes, for example, hiring more human workers to implement its customised car program.