Could a robot take your part-time job?
December 30, 2008 by Melissa Barber
Filed under Employment News
In Kingsport, Tenn., ice cream’s being served with a twist. Instead of ordering a cone from the counter, customers can use a touchscreen to create a customized soft-serve ice cream dish—made by a robot.
At Discovery Ice Cream, kids can watch a robotic arm named Puffin put together a concoction the menu describes as “3 layers of ice cream, 3 layers of candy, served with an iron fist.”
Alan Guinn, president of Puffin Innovations, Discovery Ice Cream’s parent company, says robots may be the future of food service jobs. “The robot is replacing two to four people you might have over the length of the day who’d be serving a soft-serve product,” Guinn said in an interview with QSR magazine. “A robot never argues with you. A robot never abuses a customer. It markets itself. People will be drawn to a robot. It truly is the ‘wow’ factor.”
The era of robots taking over part-time jobs isn’t here yet: real humans also work at Discovery Ice Cream, making all the treats Puffin can’t handle. Your restaurant job is safe for now.
What do you think—could a robot ever do your job?
