Service robots to help with the staff cap restriction
Service robots to help with the staff cap restriction
Recently we heard that many restaurants in Dubai prefer to
remain closed than open with the current situation and the 30% cap on the guests for dine-in. It’s a valid point. Whoever is involved in the F&B business in the UAE knows that with the investment, operation costs, and massive rents in UAE, a restaurant cannot sustain the business with a 30% guest cap!
Besides the guest cap, there are other concerns as well: the
staffs and guests’ safety, and the guests’ confidence to go to restaurants!
Here is a thought. The technology can help. The first thing is safety. While the restaurants have to reduce the staff on the premise, some of the tasks can give to robots! A disinfection robot can easily help the operation to improve the safety against all sorts of infections, on the floor, as well as the kitchen, by running several times per day and spray the areas for disinfection.
The spray robot can use hydrogen peroxide vapors (HPV), like in hospitals, which does not affect the equipment, furniture, does not have an odor, and their residue is only water. After any pick hour, the robot can roam around the floor and the kitchen for about 10 to 20 minutes, depend on the size of the restaurant, and spray the area and kill any possible pathogen. In large restaurants with vast kitchens, we can scale up and use a Robot with spray and Ultra Violet Diodes (UVD) as well. Though it looks like overkill for a hospitality operation, it can be considered for large venues and higher risk prevention.
Another part of the operation that technology and service robots can help is indoor food delivery! When we have fewer wait staff and helpers on the floor, the service robots can handle the delivery job and take the food from the counter to the table.
The first thing restaurateurs will think about the service robot solution is the cost. Realistically, if we look to the cost of ownership of a service robot in four years, and acquire them as a Robotics as a Service (RaaS), which in layman term is leasing, it would cost less than an employee who does the same job!
Other factors also need to be considered, like the size of the restaurant, the floor plan, kitchen design, pathway formation, stationing the robot for charging, and the guidance method to use in the service robot.
The technology is there and available commercially, and using of service robots is growing all around the world. Especially the current pandemic made them a necessity rather than a luxury.
