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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Technology
Budapest - London - Asharq Al-Awsat

Coffee Shop in Budapest Recruits Robots to Serve Food

Pepper is an 'emotional' robot which has been available to buy since June 2015 (AFP/Getty Images )

The robots at the Enjoy Budapest Cafe can do it all. They can serve up food and drink, tell jokes, dance with the kids or just hang out for a chat with customers.

The cafe, which has opened in the Hungarian capital, is staffed by a whole team of robots that help familiarize the public with the technological revolution in automation and artificial intelligence.

According to Reuters, the robot waiters follow fixed paths to deliver food and drink orders to customers, who are asked to keep out of the robots’ way, while others serve up entertainment.

Among these robots is Pepper, a "receptionist" that can hold a conversation and also dance with customers. Despite fears that increasing automation and artificial intelligence will take away employment from humans, Enjoy Budapest Cafe’s robots aren’t putting anyone out of a job yet.

"We actually employ twice as many people as before, because we need to have IT specialists for the robots' maintenance," the manager says.

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