Sept 15 (Reuters) – “Aglio Kim,” a trolley-like robot which uses artificial intelligence (A.I.), is delivering food to customers at a restaurant in Seoul, in order to minimize human contact and help ensure social distancing.
Shortly after customers order through a touch-screen on the table, the 1.25-meter-tall robot, developed by South Korean telecoms company KT Corp, brings the food and uses its visual SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) capabilities to avoid obstacles and navigate around customers.
The robot can deliver food to up to four tables at once, KT’s AI Platform Business Team leader Lee Young-jin toldReuters.
The A.I. robot is equipped with food trays which can carry up to 30 kilograms and an LCD screen and speaker that communicate in both Korean and English.
“Customers found the robot serving quite unique and interesting, and also felt safe from the coronavirus,” said LeeYoung-ho, a manager at the Mad for Garlic restaurant which has tested the robot this month.
From Monday, restaurants and cafes in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area are allowed to open after 9 p.m., but must leave two meters between tables and record patrons’ names and contact details.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA reported 106 new coronavirus cases as of Monday, bringing its total number of infections to 22,391 with 367 deaths.
KT said that they aim to supply more robots for restaurants this year and will unveil a second model with A.I. voice recognition technology early next year.(Reporting by Minwoo Park, Dogyun KimEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
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