This Dubai cafe is staffed entirely by robots

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This cafe is run entirely by robots

Location: Dubai, UAE

(SOUNDBITE) Rashid Essa Lootah, RoboCafe Executive Director: “This is the first robotic café in the world that relies on artificial intelligence, without any human interference, except in cases when glitches happen and for sanitization, etc. The idea came in support of Dubai government’s artificial intelligence initiative, and thank God with the help of the team we have reached this point.”

The fully autonomous robots were manufactured in Germany

but designed and made in the UAE

(SOUNDBITE )Rashid Essa Lootah, RoboCafe Executive Director: “The robot reacts to the client’s order. The client orders from the [touch] screen here, then everything is reliant on artificial intelligence, [the robot] sorts out the table's orders and places it on the small service bot, and the service bot delivers it to the customer.”

The UAE hopes to become a world leader in AI by 2031

(SOUNDBITE) Jamal Ali Hassan, Emirati: “It’s a good idea, especially right now. As you know, restaurant turnouts are low, I would expect this to be a popular idea because people have to socially distance. You order online and the robot works in front of you and gets you whatever you want within minutes. So it’s nice, you don’t need to wait for anyone or ask anyone and wait. To be honest, it’s a good idea..”