They sing and speak 50 languages. This is what robotic waiters look like in a Southern California restaurant

The restaurant in Southern California now has three outstanding waiters who take over from their colleagues and serve customers.

These are Fatima, Elizabeth, and Togo, three employees of I Can Barbecue in Tustin, Orange County, who differ from the rest of the workers in an unusual characteristic: they are not human.

Yes, these efficient servers are robots.

Three robot waiters have been working at the restaurant for three months now and speak 50 languages, sing “Happy Birthday” and greet customers with phrases for the occasion.

The robots have made a splash among customers, especially children who enjoy looking at them and playing with them, says Esat Karaaslan, owner of I Can Barbecue.

In addition to these three employees, Karaaslan has three others at his restaurant’s other locations in Santa Ana and Irvine. All robots have the same name.

According to Karaaslan, robots save time and effort for employees. They complement their colleagues, not replace them.

“[Robots] walk almost 15,000 steps a day between sitting down at the table and coming back. This helps the employees a lot,” Karaaslan said.

The average number of steps a human waiter takes is around 10,000.

Robots cannot answer specific questions about menus—only humans can. That’s why they bring the food to the table and clear the plates when the customer finishes eating.

They free waiters from functions that would take time.

“[They are a great help] so that the customer is more satisfied and the food is faster,” said Samuel Valdivia, an employee at I Can Barbecue who has worked in restaurants for over 25 years.

“It gives you a better chance of reading the tickets [orders] and put food in so it can be delivered to your table faster.”

E-workers need only three hours of rest per day, which is the time they need to recharge.

Due to staffing shortages, many businesses struggle to find the people they need to fill jobs. But today, many people prefer to buy robots, such as Fatima, Elizabeth and Togo.

At the end of 2021, US companies registered a record number of robotic workstations, equivalent to 29,000 robots and drones hired for logistics and services.