Cat-shaped robot waiter bringing smiles at Cumbrian café
A CAT-shaped robot waiter is bringing a smile to the faces of customers at a Whitehaven café.
The BellaBot, a delivery robot created by Chinese tech company Pudu, has been recruited for the Rooftop Café at Dixons department store on Lowther Street.
The robot can zip between tables and the front counter, with staff or customers only required to load and unload the trays.
It can talk to customers and is programmed with random phrases including 'your food is here, marra'. It also makes meowing noises if stroked on its ears but will remind diners not to interrupt its work if stroked for too long.
Dixons Rooftop Cafe customer Chris Eaves interacts with the robot (Image: Newsquest)
The friendly-faced robot can serve four tables at once and is able to navigate around obstacles and take the most efficient route.
Gordon Osbaldestin, company surveyor at J Dixon & Son Ltd., saw one of the robots at a trade show and after the company secured one, it was trailed at the café a week before Easter.
It has proved to be a hit with the public and has helped free up staff to speak to customers and carry out other tasks.
Mr Osbaldestin said: 'It has lifted us all. It's such a positive. Everyone has taken it really well. It's not what people expect to see here.
'It's given us more efficiency and allows us more time to have conversation with the customers. You can go anywhere for a coffee and a cake but if you like the crack, this is the place to come.
'Everyone has realised it's a help for the staff. It's very reliable as well.
The robot at Dixons Rooftop Cafe is helping staff and bringing joy to customers (Image: Newsquest)
'The idea is to make customers smile. It's another reason to come here. It's definitely made us more efficient and everyone finds it funny.'
Margaret Stobbart, a staff member at the café, said: 'We love it. It's great. The kids love it – all the customers do.'
Chris Eaves, a customer at the café, said: 'I think it's kind of cute. It prompts the idea that the robot environment is here in the mundane environment of a café.'
Mr Osbaldestin said there are now plans to introduce Pudu's CC1 cleaning robot at Dunmail Park in Workington, also owned by J Dixon & Son Ltd.
He said this would allow floor cleaning to take place during the early hours and would help in winter when there are longer drying times. It would also free up cleaning staff to focus on other areas.
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