This type of AI-powered robot sits behind the restaurant counter until a cook puts food onto its shelves and enters a table number. Then it makes its way out from behind the counter, down the the aisles to the designated table where the customer takes their food and then it returns back behind the counter.
I dont believe any such tag exists, so instead of just making up a new one (like food_delivery=robot) I’d like to come up with something that’ll work for multiple situations.
We currently have a self_service tag (of which this would be the opposite), and an automated tag (of which this would be related).
I think there are multiple aspects of a restaurant/fast-food place that could be self-service, human interaction, or automated. For example, a restaurant might have the ability for customers to place their own orders via a touchscreen system. Or deliver food to tables with a robot. Or allow customers to order and pickup food via a human server.
I’ve been to a restaurant that uses a fleet of robots to take and serve orders, but human staffers often have to take over because the robots are too slow. Do we need to model these nuances in detail? I figure people would just be interested in the use of robots for the novelty (or to avoid them). serving_robot=yes seems to be intended for this purpose. Maybe robot_service=yes would be more like self_service=* and full_service=*?
I should have a few photos if needed. This is probably the one with least humans in it and could be cropped to have none. Taken in Setagaya, 2024.
I think this is different enough to have a differentiating tag vs rails or conveyor belts etc. Also a complete pointless annoyance at least in this restaurant IMHO, but I guess the robots will get better (or already have). And I assume this would extend beyond restaurants (e.g. room service in hotels).
food_delivery is easily confused with delivery=
There’s exactly 1 serving_robot= only. It can’t be used for other robots. It doesn’t serve you robots.
Although automated= is generic and universal, it has been commented as too vague for what’s autonomous. Aside from delivering, there are cooking and drinks robots now. Besides, there’s the basic form of floor-sweeping robots.
However contrary to your comment on self_service= being an antonym, it’s more of a midway. these don’t completely serve you, as you have to pick up the items yourself.
Without dedicating to robots yet, by considering conveyors and model trains, table_service= / full_service= has already been discussed before for human attendants. For convenience, table_service= could be defined as bringing items to your table only, then full_service= can be said as the complete experience at fine dining or formal restaurants. So we can simply start with table_service==robot vs =conveyor vs =model_train for non-mixed cases.
I’ve been wanting to start tagging restaurants that expect you to bus your table versus letting the waitstaff do it for you, and those that make you pay the cashier at the counter after the meal rather than at the table. Maybe those etiquette rules could go into a similar tagging scheme about table service?
In some countries or shops, you have to pay first at the counter or cashier, then the items will be brought to you (by an order number flag, RFID beacon matching the table, staff-assigned table, or somehow recognizing you)
Counterintuitively, there are =fast_food where some food (longer time to prepare, or large & bulky), and low patronage meals as dinner will be attendant-delivered (also for all orders at all times for mobility-impaired customers including all elderly)
For your question on bussing, again there are =fast_food and =cafe , or some countries, where it’s not a must to do it yourself. There are staff to clean up tables, although doing it yourself (or at least putting them aside) may be quicker at high turnover times.
On the other hand, at the beginning of a meal, some staff-delivered shops may require you to “set up the table”, at least taking the utensils out yourself. For the opposite case, there’s another difference for whether utensils are provided on the tray, at self-served counter, or stored at the table.
Very complicated. I don’t have solutions in mind for all of them yet. There must be quite a few discussions before. I found one forgotten idea, but it’s too broad, mixed-up, and overlapping with others. Proposal:Serving System - OpenStreetMap Wiki
