While many ramen shops in Japan remain open and you can even stay in your very own ramen shop-themed hotel room, heading out to your favorite noodle joint and maintaining social distancing protocol can be pretty difficult.
Japanese ramen chain Kourakuen is hoping to make social distancing easier, and ease staffing issues at the moment by relying on a new tablet-operated "ramen robot" called the K-1.
The K-1 helps limit contact between servers and customers, as it's a shelf-equipped robot with a sensor that allows it to navigate the restaurant without bumping into people or objects. The robot can reportedly respond to voice commands and can be navigated with a tablet that both customer and restaurant staff have. It also has "entertainment features", although those remain to clarified.
The K-1 ramen robot will be debuted and apparently make a trial run for future use at the original Korakuen location in Motomiya, Fukushima.
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7 Comments
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krustytheclown
As long as the food is good, it doesn't matter who brings it out.
John Beara
Well, just make that ramen at home then.
Pukey2
Just made my own today. It's amazing how delicious you can make it with some miso, spices and other basic ingredients.
Bob Fosse
I think I’d prefer a waiter/ waitress who washed their hands regularly to this plastic wheelie bin that probably gets a quick wipe when they remember to do it.
Vanessa Carlisle
Its not like the waitress comes and coughs on you. This will make no difference whatsoever. They touched the bowls putting them on the cart. You touch them taking them off. In fact, this just adds an extra surface to touch that went around to everyone in the restaurant.
Nonsense. No one is advocating avoiding one's own close family members like that. They share a house for Pete's sake.
James Stowe
Cool!
Going to need things like this with the declining birth rate.