Oklahoma Casino Restaurant Guests Will Get Meals From Robot
Posted on: October 13, 2022, 01:41h.
Last updated on: October 13, 2022, 02:23h.
Oklahoma’s Choctaw Casino & Resort is the latest gaming property to automate some serving tasks in its restaurant. Three robots will bring food and drinks to guests’ tables and return dirty dishes to the kitchen after a meal.
The high-tech robots use artificial intelligence (AI) and are equipped with multiple cameras.
“They go for 15 hours on a four-hour charge,” Harold Johnson, regional director for food and beverage for Choctaw Casino, told KTEN, a local TV station.
They have 13 cameras on them, and what’s cool about them is they have AI, so they’re learning as well. After about two to three weeks of acclamation, they can move in any way you want around customers.”
Choctaw Casino further explained in a Facebook post the robots aren’t replacing staff, but instead “helping them do their jobs better, faster, and more efficiently.” The robots can speak more than 80 languages, and even sing “Happy Birthday” to guests celebrating at the casino.
Gary Batton, chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said it is “exciting to see technology being used to meet customer demands.”
“Bartenders love them because they can tend the bar. Servers love them because they can service, and bussers love them because now they don’t have to carry all those heavy plates back to the kitchen,” Johnson added.
Here is how they work: to direct the robot to a table with a freshly cooked meal, a restaurant worker will indicate the table number on a screen and then press the “go” button. The robot then heads to the table.
Choctaw Casino, located in Durant, Okla., isn’t the only gaming property to automate tasks. Casinos nationwide are automating work formerly done by humans. In many cases, the new technology is being employed because of a shortage of workers willing to take on jobs.
Automated Beverage Machines
A couple of years ago, Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor replaced 40 bartenders with automated beverage machines for back-of-house operations. These are non-customer-facing tasks.
The Encore installed several Easybar self-service cocktail stations. Manufactured in Oregon by Easybar Beverage Management, each automated system is capable of pouring 28 one-ounce drinks per minute.
A bartender without the system could not pour a drink with any degree of accuracy in that time,” the company claimed in a statement. “Not only are you saving time at the bar, but the system also automatically tracks your bar liquor inventory and monitors your liquor costs.”
MGM Resorts has installed automated systems at its Las Vegas properties and at MGM Springfield in Massachusetts. Along with MGM and Wynn, Easybar said Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock, Penn National, and South Point all contracted the automated services.
Robotic Dealer
In 2019, China-based gaming manufacturer LT Game, a subsidiary of Paradise Entertainment, announced its automated robotic table games dealer was ready for casino floors.
The Macau News Agency reported three years ago how LT said the robotic dealer can “steadily and accurately deliver cards in a thrilling baccarat game.” The AI robot is accompanied by a “high-definition screen” and “exhilarating music,” the report said.
LT Game began developing the robot in 2015. A prototype was shown in 2015 at the Macau Gaming Show.