All Ping

They’re probably going to render us extinct one day, so we might as well enjoy their servitude, while it lasts. A unique restaurant, in Harbin, China’s Heilongjiang Province, has 18 different robots doing all kinds of jobs, from ushering in guests to waiting tables and cooking various dishes. 

All the robots were designed and created by the Harbin Haohai Robot Company. Chief Engineer Liu Hasheng, they invested around 5 million yuan ($790,000) in the restaurant, with each robot costing 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($31,500 – $47,000). With an average cost per dinner of between $6 and $10, they won’t be recovering their investment anytime soon, but it is great advertisement for what the robot company can create.

So what happens at the Harbin robot-operated restaurant that makes it so special? As customers walk through the door, they are greeted by a robot usher that extends its right arm and says “Earth Person, Hello, Welcome to the Robot Restaurant,” with a robotic accent. After you’ve placed your order with one of the human waiters, the robots in the kitchen get cooking. There are dumpling-making robots, noodle experts and even robot chefs that get the foods right every time.

 Once the meals are ready, robot waiters bring guest their orders, following a set of tracks through the restaurant. All robots are equipped with sensors which allow them to move freely without bumping into anything or anyone. As human guests enjoy their robot-cooked food, a singing robot provides the entertainment.

According to China Daily, the 18 differently-colored robots range from 1.3meters to 1.6meters in height, can show more than 10 different facial expressions and speak simple Chinese. They are controlled by a human staff in the computer room, and can work for five straight hours after a 2-hour charge

Chinese people must not enjoy working in restaurants, as they’ve had quite a few previous attempts to replace humans with robots. In 2010, they opened their first robot restaurant, in Jiang, but they’ve also invented robot cooks a couple of times. If you like this kind of robot-operated joints, you should definitely visit the Hajime Restaurant, in Japan, where robot samurai have replaced human waiters.

The KABUTOM RX-03 is definitely one of the most impressive functional robots unveiled in recent years, especially since it was designed and built by one man, 60-year-old tech-wiz Hitoshi Takahashi. The Japanese engineer started working on his personal giant robot in 1997, as a hobby, and 11 years later, in 2008, he unveiled his creation to all of Japan, during a popular television show.

 The KABUTOM RX-03 was an instant hit and ever since then, Takahashi and his giant beetle mecha have been performing at events all over the country. We’ve seen big, cool-looking robots from Japan before, like the life-size RX87 Gundam or the Tetsujin 28-go aka Gigantor, but unlike them, this one actually works.

Takahashi’s KABUTOM RX-03 may be 17-tonnes-heavy, but it can move with ease, thanks to six diesel-powered legs and supporting wheels. The giant robot may look like it’s walking, but the legs do no nothing more than push the body in the right direction. It’s the wheels underneath that support the beetle’s weight and move it where it needs to go. Althought it features a cool-looking control panel and has enough room inside to carry a group of passengers, the KABUTOM RX-03 can also be operated from a distance, via remote-control.

A lot of people call Hitoshi Takahashi an eccentric for dedicating 11 years of his life to creating a giant rhinoceros beetle robot, but he and I know the true motive behind his long-term project – if Godzilla attacks again, the people of Japan will have something to fight it off with.