Meet Bellabot
It was a convivial evening at a restaurant. You scanned in the QR code and ordered the food on your phone. Then, in a very short time, Bellabot came and delivered your food, right to your table. Bellabot is of course a robot. It has big charming eye’s, glides easily around and is sensitive to the movements of other patrons, so there are no unfortunate incidents.
The downside with Bellabot is that it has limited conversation skills. You miss out on the charm, wit and sparkle of conversation.
The upside is that Bellabot seldom gets sick and you don’t have to pay Long service leave or payroll tax. In fact, you don’t have to pay Bellabot anything nor do you have to tip ‘it’. Bellabot always delivers the food to exactly the right table.
I spotted two of these new-fangled waiters and the rest of the staff were all the human being variety.
There was a part of me that was surprised and thought ‘Phooey and fiddlesticks! What's the world coming to?’
But it’s not that simple... the restaurant profit margin and the catering industry is that tight, so it is better to stay open with 2 Bellabots and say 10 other staff. The alternative is not open at all and 10 staff would have to look for a job elsewhere.
It’s not as straightforward as me being an old-fashioned fuddy-duddy and being disconcerted by the latest trend. In effect, Bellabot is actually enabling other people to have a job and I think that is the most important thing about them.
I don’t think Bellabots translate easily into every industry. For example, I don’t think there will ever be ‘Bella-priesty’ people or ‘Bella-bishop’ people, but the AI world arrived while I slumbered.