China's Robot Waiters: No Tipping Necessary TIME.com

A restaurant that opened this month in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong uses robots for waiters, boosting efficiency and providing further proof that human beings are superfluous. Machines don't grumble over tips. The traditional hotpot eatery is staffed by more than a dozen automated servers, the distant and brightly colored relations of Star Wars' golden droid C-3PO. The robots whir around the room on little bicycles carrying meat and veggies to be dipped by restaurant-goers into bubbling broth. Customers need not shout, weep or make obscene gestures to get their waiter's attention.