india

Updated: Oct 17, 2019 15:19 IST

A restaurant in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday opened its doors to customers claiming to be the first eatery in eastern India where two indigenously developed robots will serve customers.

Named ‘Champa’ and ‘Chameli’, the two humanoid robots rolled on the floor of the “Robo Chef” restaurant in Chandrasekharpur area of Bhubaneswar in the evening and served food to the waiting customers. After serving them food, the two robots even chimed “Apana mane khushi to” (Are you happy), a phrase popularised by chief minister Naveen Patnaik during his 2019 election campaign.

Jeet Basa, the owner of the restaurant who is a civil engineer by qualification, said he was inspired by the services by robots in restaurants during his visit to the US.

“Though there are several restaurants in India where robots are serving customers, Robo Chef is probably the first restaurant where there is no special track for them. They can move on in any uniform surface. Besides, the two robots that we have is completely manufactured in India unlike other restaurants where they are imported from China,” said Basa.

#WATCH: Robo Chef, a first of its kind restaurant in Bhubaneswar, has robots to serve food to the customers. The restaurant currently has two robots. #Odisha pic.twitter.com/OHfdjDlybM — ANI (@ANI) 16 October 2019

Basa said the robots used in his restaurant used SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) technology that does not need any guided path or environment modification. “The robots have 17 kinds of censors that sense the environment, heat, even smoke, identify persons, greet and welcome people,” he said.

Though the robots can take orders from the customers, the restaurant owner would engage their own staff for it as it needs a human touch.

The two humanoid robots costing around Rs 5.5 lakh each can work up to 8 hours once fully charged and lift dishes upto 20 kilogram. It takes around half an hour to charge the robots.