Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the food industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups developing robot waiters.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Startups developing Robot Waiters out of 321
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2 093 000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 321 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 food tech startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 316 robot waiters, get in touch.
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Pudu Robotics develops Meal Delivery Robots
As more people prefer high-skilled jobs, the cost of hiring employees for blue-collar jobs is increasing, especially in developed countries. These jobs are quite mundane but directly impact service quality. At the same time, robotics in the food industry is gaining popularity for its ability to automate repetitive tasks. Advanced robots work alongside humans and primarily perform tasks like serving, vending, or over-the-counter tasks, thereby enabling restaurants to deliver consistent service quality and reduce employee costs.
Chinese startup Pudu Robotics develops commercial service robots to serve food in hotels and restaurants. The startup’s core technologies include positioning, motion control, multi-machine scheduling, obstacle avoidance, and automated simulation testing. Its service robots also feature human-computer interaction capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), and computer vision for navigation. This enables restaurant owners to serve multiple tables at once and reduce customer waiting time.
Yanu creates Robotic Bartenders
Bars and pubs face losses due to the limited ability of human bartenders to serve drinks, especially at peak hours. Also, bars incur a huge cost for hiring bartenders for multiple shifts. On the other hand, autonomous robots are aiding or even replacing bartenders by preparing drinks and serving them to the customers. Such robots benefit restaurants and bars by reducing costs and serving more customers.
Estonian startup Yanu provides fully autonomous AI-powered robotic bartending units. The robot serves drinks and handles payments as well as identifies and communicates with customers. Yanu has the capacity to hold 45 bottles in one go, hence serving faster and safer than humans. It also features robotic arms to mix and serve drinks imitating humans and docks to serve drinks to the customers. Further, the robot has a screen that displays order details and client information, thereby eliminating labor taxation, theft, and other similar company expenses.
Paalia builds Food Serving Robots
Robotics finds seamless integration in the service industry due to decreasing costs of hardware and advancements in AI. For example, restaurants are fully automated using AI-enabled robotic chefs. The technology benefits restaurants and hotels by increasing their serving capacity and efficiency while enhancing the customer experience. In addition to robotic assistants, startups develop autonomous robots that completely mimic humans and independently perform their tasks.
Nepal-based startup Paaila develops humanoid service robots that replace waiters in restaurants and hotels. The startup’s product Ginger is a smart, reliable, and autonomous robot that delivers food orders from the kitchen to the customers’ tables. Ginger is powered by self-driving technology and swarm intelligence, which enables it to communicate with other Ginger robots as well as with the restaurant staff and customers. This prevents collisions and also allows them to distribute tasks among themselves.
Marses develops Contactless Robotic Kiosks
Customer experience is an integral part of the hospitality industry. It is challenging for waiters to serve everyone equally while maintaining service quality during peak hours. Hence, hotels and restaurants are shifting towards robot waiters that allow organizations to serve safely and consistently. Startups utilize artificial intelligence and advanced robotics to build robots that mimic human tasks more efficiently.
Egypt-based startup Marses automates food-serving using contactless and automatic robotic kiosks. The startup’s product Mozo combines robotics, machine vision, and artificial intelligence to autonomously deliver meals from the kitchen to guests. Moreover, Mozo interacts with customers and uses contactless gesture identification technology to understand the signals given by them. The startup further aims to deploy waiter robots in all types of food service environments to enhance customer experience and manage labor shortages.
1st Century Robot manufactures Humanoid Waiter Assistants
Human waiters cannot assure consistent service quality even with training due to health issues, holidays, and low productivity, among others. Many food services also lose customers due to high waiting times. Waiter robots solve these problems since they work round-the-clock and require fewer human inputs. Additionally, fast service shortens the overall table turnaround time, which eventually allows food services to accommodate more customers.
Chinese startup 1st Century Robot offers robotic humanoid assistants for restaurants, cafes, hotels, and other applications. The startup’s humanoid utilizes an advanced navigation system with obstacle-detection technology. The robot takes input in the form of gestures, touch, or commands to accomplish the task at hand. The startup also uses an intelligent voice system, facial recognition, and magnetic positioning technologies for developing its robotic solutions.
Discover more Food Tech Startups
Food startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, computer vision, as well as restaurant automation. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the food industry, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more food technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free FoodTech Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
