How Robots in Japanese Restaurants Tackle Labor Shortage
Japan is all about robot technology. Restaurant robot applications preparing food in the kitchen or serving the customers in the hall.
No, we are not talking about the infamous Robot Cafe, the Shinjuku tourist trap which apparently went out of business last year amidst the corona crisis — but about robot applications in the hospitality industry in Japan.
Japan is the leading force in the robotics market
Japanese industrial robot manufacturers accounted for over 56% of the global supply in 2017. Plus 90% of all electrical and mechanical robotic parts come from Japanese suppliers.
However, in service-driven sectors like food and restaurants not Japanese startups but for example London-based Moley or California-based Miso Robotics make headlines with innovative kitchen robots.
Hyper-aging population and labor shortage calls for solutions
Labor shortage is a common theme in an overaging society — especially in labor intensive industries like food service and restaurants.
According to a report by the Chuo University and Persol, Japan could experience an estimated 6.4 million worker deficit by 2030. The personnel turnover in the food & hotel industry is said to be one of the highest in comparison to other industries.
The profit margin of the restaurant industry, which is heavily relying on cheap part-time jobs, is under pressure as the average part time hourly wages reached 1,000 yen ($8.90) in the major cities of Japan.
Robotic automation in restaurants is not straight-forward
Japan was way ahead of other countries in what automation in restaurants concerns.
The neighborhood ramen shop is equipped with a meal ticket machine, from where you select and purchase your favorite ramen bowl without having the staff make any monetary transactions.
Another neat automation solution are the conveyor belts in sushi chain restaurants (“Kaiten Sushi”) carrying various nigiri or maki sushis directly to your table.
So why are not other parts of the restaurant operation automated?
The answer is simple: because it is complex and difficult to realize, giving solutions a hefty price tag which simply cannot be covered by your local restaurant.
Here are some limiting factors for the food and restaurant robot application (The specs might change depending on the certain use-case and place of use):
- Human machine collaboration: necessary safety mechanisms (i.e. sensors, gages) must be in place to allow interaction with human personnel
- Small space: the robot has to operated in a limited physical space and most restaurants lack of space in a highly priced Tokyo
- Dealing with food: the common hygiene regulations must be fulfilled and in order to clean the robot the equipment must be to some degree water-proof.
- Flexibility and variety: various tasks have to be executed flexibly depending on the incoming orders with changing ingredients and preparation steps.
Overview of restaurant robots in Japan
Some Japanese startups are trying to bring robot technology into the hospitality and restaurant industry:
Connected Robotics
The Tokyo based robotics startup Connected Robotics specializes in restaurant applications with a broad range of robots developed so far:
- Taco Yaki making robot (for Seven & I Holdings Co.)
- Softcream making and serving robot (for Seven & I Holdings Co.)
- Soba noodle cooking robot (for JR East Foods)
- Dishwasher (de)loading robot (for Tempura chain restaurant)
Just recently Connected Robotics has developed a noodle cooking robot for a small existing station soba noodle shop in Tokyo for Japan Railways East. The robot automatically cooks the noodles by placing them into boiling water and rinsing them in cold water afterwards. Here the robot works hand in hand with the robot starting the cooking process and garnishing the dishes off with toppings and extra ingredients.
Connected Robotics also partnered with Seven and i Holdings (7Eleven) to upgrade the kitchen at a supermarket food court. The “Tacoyaki” robot for example costs initially 3M JPY and then subsequently 200k JPY/month for maintenance software updates. The “low” initial costs helps the restaurant owners to commit to an investment.
Also, worthwhile watching is the short NHK documentary about Connected Robotics’ story and robots.
Smile Robotics
Another rather young robotics startup is Smile Robotics founded in 2019. The founder was a member of Tokyo’s SCHAFT robot spin-off, which was bought by Alphabet in 2013, but was later dissolved in the aftermath. The core team is built around graduates of the prestigious Tokyo University.
The Japanese startup has developed the ACUR-C, an autonomous food serving robot. The robot can magically serve food and drinks to the customer’s table. It is even able to collect trays of empty or dirty dishes and bring them back to the kitchen. The robot can freely maneuver through the restaurant and does not rely on markers to find its way around the restaurant space.
At the moment the robot is only able to pick up a certain size of trays, assuming that the customers load all dishes on the tray when they leave. When something is not placed on the tray or falls off during the collecting process, there is no way of dealing with edge cases at the moment.
Further the robot might not be for the super busy restaurant with a lot of customers walking around requiring a certain amount of space. As for all collaborative lightweight robots there is always a trade-off between safety and speed (i.e. productivity).
OriHime Robot
The OriHime robot, which is made mainly as a communication robot, might be for some people even considered cute. According to the uncanny valley theory OriHime should have relatively high empathy points with humans.
The 23cm high robot is developed by the Japanese startup Orylab. Orylab tries to not only help companies with their remotely controlled robot, but also tries to give handicapped people a chance to work from home.
Orylab conducted a proof of concept together with Japanese burger chain Mos Burgers. The OriHime were placed at the register of Mos Burger’s Osaki store in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward.
A built-in camera is the eyes. Microphones function as ears and the hidden speakers give OriHime a voice. With joints in two flabby arms and neck the robot is able to realize simple gestures to support vocal communication. An employee communicated with the customers remotely and took the customers’ orders. The incoming orders were then communicated to the kitchen staff and the customer could pay the bill at the register.
The human-controlled robot does still require human labor to function. It can be a beneficial solution to allow remote work for people, who are not able to work directly at a store, giving customers a warm welcoming experience. To increase productivity one employee could possibly cover multiple shops at once depending on the traffic.
“We wanted to provide warm service to customers instead of just using the devices. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, we would also like to offer services that do not require direct contact.”
Nevertheless, it does only partially tackle the labor shortage issue, and in other countries apart from the perception of robots are completely different and might not be easily adapted due to low acceptance rates.
Telexistence
A remotely controlled humanoid robot developed by Telexistence Inc., was tried out during trials at FamilyMart and Lawson convenience stores. During this test-run in Tokyo the robot was in charge of restocking the refrigerators with beverages and sandwiches from the backyard without the danger of interfering with customers.
The automatic stocking of all products on the store shelves and other common tasks like frying & displaying the fried food are considered as future applications.
One of the biggest hurdles that has to be overcome is to manage the robot’s co-existence with customers when freely moving around the shop floor. Further, it is challenging to cover the whole variety of products (shapes, weight, expiration dates etc.). One convenience store is carrying about 2000–4000 product items.
Most of the robot solutions are just under trial and not yet turned into real applications. It might still take a couple of years to see robots in your daily restaurant or convenience store visit.
Any startup companies missed? Other great applications in the restaurant sector? Let me know.
