Sushi Restaurant Deploys Pudu's Robotic Server
Sushi Island, a restaurant St. John's, NL, Canada, has added Pudu Robotics' BellaBot to serve dine-in guests.
BellaBot has been a great help in the restaurant's effort to provide contactless tableside delivery during the COVID-19 outbreak. Manager at Sushi Island told the NTV reporter that no employees would be laid off because of BellaBot. She was introduced as a way to help servers, and make customers feel safer with less human contact during a pandemic.
Employees at Sushi Island told Pudu Robotics that they posted a video showing the work of BellaBot on Facebook, and the popularity was unprecedented. As of January 24, only one week after BellaBot's arrival, the video got 910 shares, 924 comments, and 433 likes, and these figures are still growing.
This cute robot cat is developed by Pudu Robotics, a provider of commercial robots. Notably, BellaBot is an indoor delivery robot with a novel, cute cat face in Pudu's robot family and even in the robotics industry. BellaBot is unique in that she is easier and more friendly to approach, both visually and tactilely, thanks to its multi-modal interaction that integrates visual, tactile, and auditory senses.
BellaBot can easily move, orient and navigate all by herself in highly dynamic and crowded environments. Equipped with intelligent induction trays, the robot can deliver food to 3 to 4 tables at a time. When she arrives at a table, the light strip beside the tray starts to flash, reminding the customers to pick up the food. After the food is taken off the tray, the light strip goes out, at which point the robot will move on to the next table.
In addition to the basic Delivery mode, BellaBot also comes with a Cruise mode, which is designed for the robot to move back and forth to deliver snacks or buffet food. In Cruise mode, the robot can walk around at the front door of the shopping center or the restaurant to help attract customers. BellaBot also offers a Birthday mode, in which she delivers birthday cakes accompanied by music blessings. Plus she is also a singing robot.