Pakistani engineer's company Cobot builds two humanoid waiter robots for a Karachi pizzeria
Syed Osama Aziz built two humanoid robots from mostly local parts. They greet guests and bring pizza at The Sicilian in Karachi, though diners still take dishes from the tray themselves.
At The Sicilian, an Italian restaurant in Karachi, the economic capital of Pakistan, a humanoid serving robot carries pizza to tables, Sciences et Avenir reports. The robot greets guests in an electronic voice: "Welcome to Sicilian. My name is Robia" sciencesetavenir.fr
Sciences et Avenirsciencesetavenir.frOpen source ↗. It has a white spherical head, a dark visor similar to a motorcycle helmet, blinking red LED eyes and a black dupatta, a traditional South Asian shawl, over its shoulders.
How the robots were built
Pakistani engineer Syed Osama Aziz, founder of the restaurant, developed two humanoids through his robotics company Cobot, with the help of friends. He mainly used locally made parts, designed the printed circuit boards himself and programmed the robots in his own laboratory. Some electronic components still had to be imported from abroad.
Aziz said that hardware for building robots is not easy to find in Pakistan, so the team had to improvise. His robot workshop is in Multan, in Punjab province in the centre of the country.
What the robots do in the dining room
When a robot arrives at the table, guests must either take the dishes from its tray themselves or wait for a human staff member to help sciencesetavenir.fr
Sciences et Avenirsciencesetavenir.frOpen source ↗. Aziz plans to add camera and image processing. According to him, the robot would then recognise a guest, remember the previous order and make better suggestions.
Customer Ahmer Zameer said that the robot introduces itself and tells guests what they can order. Children reach out to touch the machines, while parents take photos and selfies. Restaurant staff say attendance has noticeably increased, with some guests crossing the whole port city to see the robots. Employee Hellen said it is the first time people there have seen a robot.
The material also notes that robots are becoming more common in China and other East Asian countries, where they serve dishes in restaurant chains and work in hotels. Morgan Stanley projects that the world could have more than a billion humanoid robots by 2050.
