A cat-shaped robot server has worked its first shift in a UK restaurant to help address staff shortages. The BellaBot, a delivery robot created by Chinese tech company Pudu, was recruited by the Bella Italia branch at Center Parcs Whinfell Forest in Cumbria. The robot can zip between tables and the kitchen, with human staff or customers only required to load and unload the trays. The trial by Big Table Group, owner of Bella Italia, Café Rouge, Las Iguanas and other UK restaurant chains, marks the first time the BellaBot has been used in a large restaurant setting. The company said it launched the trial in an effort to'boost innovation and elevate the dining experience', and that it was now'the largest restaurant chain in the UK to introduce robot technology'.

Companies looking to replace human staff with robots at hotels, restaurants and other service industries, should consider giving them a female face, study finds. For the study, 170 volunteers were asked by experts from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, for their thoughts on a scenario involving a hypothetical robot working in a service job - such as as a hotel greeter. The team discovered that people are more comfortable talking to a female presenting robot, especially if it has human-like features. The researchers said that in future, as well as a female face, it could be important for robots to have some degree of personality, especially if working in service jobs. Companies looking to replace human staff with robots at hotels, restaurants and other service industries, should consider giving them a female face, study finds.

A Chinese restaurant chain in the north west of England has been forced to make use of robotic waiters, after struggling for staff during the Covid pandemic. Directors at The Chinese Buffet unleashed one BellaBot in each of four restaurants in Liverpool, St Helens, Bolton and Wigan, to serve food to diners. When the buffet re-opened after the last lockdown, its owners decided to serve food to people at the table, ordered via an app, rather than allow them to serve themselves. This added an extra strain on the already short waiting staff, according to owners Paolo Hu and Peter Wu, who said the BellaBots had already proved popular with diners. The guide price for the friendly-faced robots is $20,000 (£14,500), which is less than the cost of employing a waiter at minimum wage for 40 hours per week. Quirky footage shows Bella, who features a wide-eyed feline face, sweeping across the restaurant floor dishing out delicacies to delighted customers.

The latest delivery robot designed by Pudu, BellaBot inherits the outstanding characteristics of the previous generation, while being endowed with superior human-Robot interaction capabilities. Featuring an innovative bionic design language, cute modeling, AI voice functionality, multi-modal interaction and many other new functions, BellaBot provides users with an unprecedented food delivery robot experience. BellaBot supports both Laser SLAM and Visual SLAM positioning and navigation solutions in order to adapt to more scenarios. Both of which are accurate and easy to use. Both positioning solutions which BellaBot offers provides the same excellent user experience.

A table-waiting robot cat built by a Chinese technology firm can carry plates of food, navigate a restaurant, miaow at diners -- and even react to having its ears stroked. Making its debut at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas tomorrow, the so-called BellaBot was built for Chinese restaurants lacking enough waiters. The cute service bot is just one of a number of wacky automatons featuring in the tech show -- alongside a robot that can do yoga and tai chi poses. BellaBot -- which can navigate around obstacles and its fellow robots -- is the brainchild of the Chinese robotics and artificial intelligence firm PuduTech. It features four shelves in the centre of its tower-like body to carry plates.

A robot cat designed to ferry plates of food to restaurant customers has been unveiled at the CES tech expo in Las Vegas. BellaBot, built by the Chinese firm PuduTech, is one of a number of wacky robotic inventions being shown off at the event this year. There is also UBTech's Walker, which can pull yoga poses. It speeds a roll of toilet paper on demand to bathrooms that have run out of the stuff. One expert said it was likely that robots exhibited at CES would only continue to get more bizarre in the future. BellaBot, the table-waiting robot cat, is a service bot with personality.