Computer Orders Restaurant Workers Around
By
Bill Christensen
Hyperactive Bob, the kitchen production management
computer system from Hyperactive Technologies,
is now being licensed to Zaxby's, a fast-food
restaurant chain with locations in the Southern
states. Zaxby's has 330 counter-service chicken
specialty restaurants. This artificially intelligent
computer system not only takes orders, it gives
them as well.
Hyperactive
Bob makes use of different forms of robotics technology
to help manage fast food restaurants:
*
Sensing the environment:
The system uses robotic vision to count the cars
in the parking lot, gathers feedback from employees
and collects point-of-sale information in real
time.
*
Artificial Intelligence:
Hyperactive Bob analyzes historical and real-time
data to learn about each restaurant individually.
Hyperactive Technologies claims that HB is more
accurate than most seasoned employees.
*
Taking Charge:
Hyperactive Bob uses touch screens to tell employees
what to do. Employees are instructed how much
of which foods to cook; when the food is ready,
they tell HB.
Hyperactive Bob operates on practical PC hardware
and Windows .Net, Winnov Videum 4400 VO (4 channel
video capture card), ELO Touch Screen Displays
and Color 380 TV Line Cameras . According to the
company, HB "leverages existing QSR infrastructure
to offer a very low total cost of ownership, with
little maintenance or support, and provides an
accelerated return-on-investment that is realized
in less than one year."
Hyperactive
Bob is frighteningly close to Manna,
a science-fictional system proposed by Marshall
Brain in his novella-length story of the same
name. In the story, Manna is a PC-based system
that makes use of sensors around the restaurant
to gain information; it then instructs employees.
Manna
was connected to the cash registers, so it knew
how many people were flowing through the restaurant.
The software could therefore predict with uncanny
accuracy when the trash cans would fill up, the
toilets would get dirty and the tables needed
wiping down. The software was also attached to
the time clock, so it knew who was working in
the restaurant...
Manna
told employees what to do simply by talking to
them. Employees each put on a headset when they
punched in...
(Read more about Marshall
Brain's Manna)
If
you think that going through your day with a computer
telling you what to do every minute sounds creepy,
it gets much worse. In the story, human workers
are really just the remote "manipulators"
and "sensors" of the system. Hopefully,
no one will tell the makers of Hyperactive Bob
about the Manna
story; it has too many practical suggestions for
the enslavement of humans. Visit Hyperactive
Technologies.
(This
Science Fiction in the News story used with permission
from Technovelgy.com-
where science meets fiction.)