[ti:Are Robot Waiters the Future?] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:01.84]You may have already seen them [00:03.96]in some restaurants around the world: robots. [00:08.44]They are about the size of a child. [00:13.12]They can welcome people [00:14.76]and lead them to their tables. [00:17.72]They can deliver food and drinks [00:20.28]and bring dirty dishes back to the kitchen. [00:24.40]Some have cat-like faces [00:27.12]and even make noises when you scratch their heads. [00:32.32]But are robot waiters the future? [00:35.52]It is a question [00:37.40]the restaurant industry is trying to answer. [00:41.84]Many people think robot waiters [00:44.44]are the answer to worker shortages. [00:47.52]Sales of robots have been growing in recent years. [00:53.04]There are tens of thousands of them now [00:55.96]moving through eating places worldwide. [00:59.92]"There's no doubt in my mind [01:02.32]that this is where the world is going," [01:04.80]said Dennis Reynolds, [01:07.32]head of the Hilton College [01:09.40]of Global Hospitality Leadership [01:12.16]at the University of Houston. [01:16.28]The school's restaurant [01:17.64]began using a robot in December. [01:20.52]Reynolds said it has eased the workload for humans [01:25.28]and improved service. [01:28.72]But others say robot waiters [01:31.24]still have a long way to go [01:34.20]before they can replace humans. [01:37.08]They cannot take orders. [01:39.40]And they cannot walk up steps [01:42.32]to different areas of a restaurant. [01:45.96]"Restaurants are pretty chaotic places, [01:48.56]so it's very hard to insert automation [01:52.20]in a way that is really productive," [01:56.08]said Craig Le Clair from the advising company Forrester. [02:03.08]Still, the use of robots is growing. [02:06.36]California-based Bear Robotics [02:10.00]introduced its Servi robot in 2021. [02:14.88]The company expects to have 10,000 [02:18.20]deployed by the end of this year [02:21.04]in 44 U.S. states and overseas. [02:25.56]In China, Shenzen-based Pudu Robotics, [02:30.68]which was founded in 2016, [02:33.76]has deployed more than 56,000 robots worldwide. [02:39.88]"Every restaurant chain [02:41.68]is looking toward as much automation as possible," [02:44.56]said Phil Zheng of Richtech Robotics, [02:48.48]a maker of robot servers based in Austin, Texas. [02:53.28]"People are going to see these everywhere [02:56.36]in the next year or two." [02:59.84]In Madison Heights, Michigan, [03:02.96]Li Zhai was having trouble [03:05.40]finding workers for his restaurant [03:08.28]Noodle Topia in the summer of 2021. [03:12.64]So, he bought a robot from Pudu Robotics. [03:16.88]The robot was so successful he added two more; [03:20.96]now, one robot leads diners to their seats [03:25.80]while another delivers food to tables. [03:29.20]And his employees load [03:32.00]dirty dishes onto a third robot [03:34.72]to bring them back to the kitchen. [03:36.88]Zhai said he now needs three people [03:41.12]to do the same work [03:42.72]that five or six people used to do. [03:45.88]And they save him money. [03:49.08]A robot costs around $15,000, he said, [03:53.80]but a person costs him [03:56.24]$5,000 to $6,000 per month. [04:00.52]Zhai noted [04:01.76]that the robots give his human servers [04:04.84]more time to spend with diners, [04:07.60]which increases tips. [04:10.08]Tips are extra money given to food servers [04:13.96]to reward them for their service. [04:16.96]And diners often post videos of the robots [04:20.24]on social media that lead to more visits. [04:24.92]"Besides saving labor, [04:27.04]the robots generate business," he said. [04:32.32]Betzy Giron Reynosa at The Sushi Factory [04:36.36]in West Melbourne, Florida [04:38.72]said working with robots could be problematic. [04:41.96]"You can't really tell it to move or anything," she said. [04:46.20]She has also had diners [04:49.56]who do not want to interact with it. [04:52.28]But the robot is helpful, she said. [04:55.20]It saves her trips to the kitchen [04:57.88]and gives her more time with diners. [05:02.00]LeClair of Forrester [05:03.80]said worker shortages have greatly increased [05:07.28]the use of robot servers at restaurants. [05:10.92]In the U.S., the restaurant industry [05:14.40]employed 15 million people [05:16.84]at the end of last year. [05:19.28]But that was 400,000 fewer [05:23.08]than before the COVID-19 pandemic, [05:26.28]the National Restaurant Association said. [05:30.24]In a recent opinion study, [05:32.52]62 percent of restaurant operators [05:35.60]told the association [05:37.64]they do not have enough employees [05:40.60]to meet their needs. [05:43.28]The use of technology, like QR codes, [05:46.88]to order food [05:48.20]also prepared people to accept robots. [05:52.72]Karthik Namasivayam of Michigan State University's [05:57.56]Broad College of Business [06:00.24]said, "Once an operator [06:03.00]begins to understand and work with one technology, [06:06.92]other technologies... [06:08.68]will be much more readily accepted." [06:12.80]Namasivayam said [06:14.48]that public acceptance of robot servers [06:17.40]is very high in Asia. [06:19.64]For example, he said Pizza Hut [06:22.72]has robot servers in 1,000 restaurants in China. [06:29.40]The U.S. was slower to use robot servers, [06:33.36]but more restaurants are now testing them. [06:36.60]Chick-fil-A is trying them at [06:39.08]several restaurants around the country. [06:41.44]The company said the robots [06:44.20]have given human employees [06:46.20]more time to serve and welcome guests. [06:49.40]But not all restaurants have had success with robots. [06:54.08]Chili's introduced a robot server in 2020. [06:58.80]The restaurant company expanded the test [07:02.44]to 61 U.S. restaurants [07:05.76]before suddenly halting last August. [07:09.56]Chili's found that the robot moved [07:12.96]too slowly and got in the way of human servers. [07:17.76]And 58 percent of guests surveyed said [07:22.20]robots did not improve their overall experience. [07:27.80]Haidilao in China [07:30.00]began using robots a year ago [07:32.80]to take food to diners' tables. [07:36.28]But managers at several restaurants [07:39.16]said the robots have not proved as [07:42.36]dependable or cost-effective as human servers. [07:48.00]Wang Long, the manager [07:49.88]of a Haidilao restaurant in Beijing, [07:52.68]said his two robots have both broken down. [07:56.32]"We only used them now and then," Wang said, [08:00.44]"...the machine can never replace humans." [08:04.60]I'm Dan Friedell. And I'm Faith Pirlo. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM