A Shanghai college is utilizing a vibrant yellow robot to prepare and serve dishes in its canteen in an work to increase meals security as China strives to maintain the spread of the novel coronavirus beneath manage.
The Minhang High School Experimental School, whose students are 11-13 years old, began utilizing the robot in October shortly just after the college very first opened, producing human cooks redundant.
The roughly 3 metre tall (9.84 feet) robot makes use of its arm to choose up pre-ready person dishes like steamed egg and fried chicken wings, which it pops into a massive microwave to heat up just before lunchtime.
As students stream into the canteen, the robot locations the dishes on trays that go on to a conveyor belt, which the young children then choose up.
“Everything has gone well as the machine has guaranteed the safety of the food without having to be touched by humans and the dishes’ taste better now,” mentioned the school’s vice president Song Wenjie, adding that the robot tended to be superior than humans at measuring seasonings like salt and pepper.
The college started utilizing the robot just after it was donated by Chinese catering brand Xixiang Intelligent Kitchen, he mentioned. He believes that they are the very first college to use it in Shanghai.
“We received many calls after media reports on this robotic cook and we are signing many more contracts with schools and companies in those high-tech parks,” mentioned Shen Wei, a project manager at Xixiang.
The novel coronavirus was very first found in China late final year but the nation has considering the fact that brought its spread beneath manage.
The pandemic has boosted demand for service robots in China, exactly where they are applied for tasks like delivering meals and drinks in restaurants, and performing necessary functions in hospitals.