Fig 1. Lifelike e-host located at the entrance/waiting area of the fast food sushi restaurant. It functions to assign customers seats according to group size, expected service type (self-serve or waited on), and guest type (depending on recent amount of expenditure). Customers interact with the e-host through a touch-screen panel while corresponding voice recordings are emitted throughout the transaction.
Fig 2. A section of the restaurant where customers prefer self-service. For these guests, interaction with waitresses are kept at a minimum, and only necessary for checkout –otherwise, orders are made on digital menu boards, food is delivered on the conveyor belt, and used dishes collected only after the seats are vacated. The restaurant is located in a comfortably populated city in Kagoshima, Japan.
Student: Chang Jamie
No doubt, eateries utilising technology to aid operation is not a rare sight in Hong Kong, yet none are as innovative as a fast-food sushi restaurant I had visited in Japan. Upon entering, I was greeted by none other than a life-size robot (fig. 1).
The e-host had captured my attention as (apart from being my ticket to enjoying a fulfilling meal,) it bore an uncanny resemblance to human beings. Programmed to seem lifelike, the e-host lacked syntheticness – every second, engaged with customers or not, it “breathed”, “observed”, and gestured meaningfully to invite customers into the restaurant. As such, the store operates based on minimal human interaction and presence. While the e-host is inventive and fresh, a few questions come to mind: Is this the future of tertiary businesses? How will this adversely affect employment rates and people’s livelihood? Is it not ironic and unhealthy for communities to thrive increasingly on seclusion and disconnectedness? Is technology perhaps advancing too fast for humanity; or are we too susceptible to its grasp on us? In attempt to higher efficiency and net earnings, it was at the cost of connection and unity, where even friends face the wall as they dine “together”. This serves as a prime example of technology as a double-edged sword in creating a ghost town restaurant – ultimately, do we gain… or do we lose?