Fancy a byte? Limerick restaurant starts up its first robot worker

Bellabot will be tasked with lightening the load of her human co-workers, as well as creating a cheerful atmosphere

Kristina Skurauskaite who works at the Resturaunt is pictured at the Jasmine Palace in Limerick with Bella the Robot waiter. Picture: Brian Arthur

The Jasmine Palace on Limerick’s O’Connell Street has stood as one of the city's most loved Chinese restaurants for over three decades.

Anyone who has enjoyed the seemingly never-ending buffet will undoubtedly have questioned how members of staff resist taking a nibble of one of the many tantalising trays of food on offer.

But for the restaurant's newest employee, Bella, that temptation will not be a problem.

Kristina Skurauskaite serves Nicola Burke, Nicole Lammond and Jade Walsh with Bella.

This is because “Bella” — or Bellabot  — is a robot tasked with the role of lightening the load of her human co-workers, as well as creating a cheerful atmosphere throughout the restaurant.

Bella will be on hand (or wheels) to help with heavy loads, such as carrying heavy dishes to the buffet table, lugging up 30 bottles of water at a time, and even singing happy birthday.

General manager Jeff Tse said Bella’s employment all started after Jeff's friend, who runs a robotics company, brought her in from China to show her off.

Jeffrey Tse with Bella the Robot waiter that will be used to carry the heavier loads. Photo: Brian Arthur

“We decided to giver her a trial,” Jeff explained. “Her main job right now is carrying the heavier loads. We have over 100 dishes on the buffet so the robot will be carrying almost all of it."

The robot can carry around five times as much weight as the average staff member, leaving them free to do other important tasks.

Bella has already captured the hearts of the customers, with children, in particular, enthralled and she may soon be delivering dishes straight to people's tables.

“We will keep her on a trial run for a while and see how it goes with reliability and consistency," Jeff said. "After a couple of months, we will make a decision. We will also decide if we need more robots, see what others can do and what's out there."