Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!rml!jack
From: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty)
Newsgroups: comp.robotics
Subject: Pizzabots (was: Robots applied in food preparation)
Message-ID: <270@rml.UUCP>
Date: 25 Apr 91 20:53:23 GMT
References: <1991Apr23.200215.27670@menudo.uh.edu> <RSLAU.91Apr24132134@tarazed.usc.edu>
Reply-To: jack@rml.UUCP (jack hagerty)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Robotic Midwives, Ltd.
Lines: 60

In article <RSLAU.91Apr24132134@tarazed.usc.edu> rslau@usc.edu (Robert Lau) writes:
>April issue of Discover, page 12...
>
>excerpt:
>
>  PizzaBot was developed by engineers at Carnegie-Mellon to help disabled
>  people become entrepreneurs. [...]
>
>  The result is a robotic arm placed in front of a semicircular counter,
>  with ingredients and tools within easy reach.  After the disabled
>  manager calls out an order, a simple voice-recognition system decides
>  which of two possible sizes and 12 condiments it just heard. [...]
>
>Article said that K.G. Engelhardt was the head of the engineering team.
>

Yes, Engelhardt was the primary delveloper of the system. It was shown
on TV on one of those "new technology" shows (Smithsonian or Scientific
American).

My only problem with this is that it is something of a grandstand stunt.
Not that I have anything against rehabilitating the handicapped, but
this particular system reduces the person to a sub-machine role. As you
noted, the person does nothing more than speak into a voice recognition
system which translates commands to the robot. You could just as easily
have the customer place his own order on a touch screen which commands
the robot directly. In fact, a major fast food chain is field testing
just this sort of system.

I found it fascinating that Round Table has parodied this system
in their current commercial with a man-against-robot race.

From a more entertaining direction, Nolan Bushnell (of Chuck E. Cheese
fame) was working with Little Ceasers to develop a robotic pizza 
delivery system. I did the mechanical design on these little guys
which turned out pretty well. They looked something like animated 
milk cans (for those of you in dairy country) and carried the pizza
in their mid section. They rolled up to a "loading dock" near your
table but you had to pull the pizza and other stuff (salads, drinks,
etc.) out yourself. They also told jokes and did little routines.
Most of the entertainment was done by a sub-species called "showbots"
that had no food compartment but rather a hi-fidelity sound system
in it's place.

Even though the prototypes worked pretty well, both Nolan and Little
Ceaser's had bigger fish to fry, so to speak, and the project died 
from inattention.


- Jack

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|| "The Biblical God is a sloppy manufacturer. He's not good at design,    ||
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