Nepal’s first robot waiter ready to take orders
KATHMANDU: “Please enjoy your meal,” says Nepal’s first robot waiter Ginger, as she delivers a plate of steaming dumplings to a table of hungry customers.
The poor Himalayan nation is better known for its soaring mountain peaks than technological prowess, but a group of self-taught young innovators want to change that.
Local start-up Paaila Technology built Ginger, a 1.5m- tall robot, from scratch and programmed her to understand English and Nepali.
The bilingual humanoid robot – named Ginger after a common ingredient in Nepali cuisine – can even crack jokes like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa.
Three “Gingers” work at Naulo restaurant in the dusty capital Kathmandu, where pot-holed roads and crumbling buildings still bear the scars of a powerful earthquake that hit more than three years ago.
“This is our testing ground. We’re fine-tuning it with responses from our customers,” said Binay Raut, the company’s chief executive officer.
The team of 25 young engineers – Raut is the oldest at 27 – worked for months to build the robot, welding and moulding the prototype by hand in their tiny office.
What Nepal lacks in tech infra- structure, the engineers made up for in ingenuity – Ginger’s sleeklooking plastic body was painted in a neighbourhood car workshop.
Naulo opened its doors four months ago and its robot waiters have been a big draw.
Ginger, who can sense movement and obstacles, deftly navigates the crowded restaurant carrying trays laden with food.
Customers order via a touch screen menu fitted into the tables and Ginger is called to the kitchen when dishes are ready.
“It was a completely new experience,” said 73-year-old Shalikram Sharma, who was born before tele- visions were available in Nepal.
Ginger has become quite a selfie star and is often distracted from her work by children keen to get a photo with the sleek robot.
With its eyes on the global market, Paila Technology is in the process of patenting its design to sell at home and abroad.