A McDonald’s in the Chinese megacity Shanghai is testing humanoid robots in roles normally reserved for human workers. Other types of robots are also used in restaurants to greet and entertain guests.
To be fair, the robots don’t look particularly advanced, but a video (below) showing them in action suggests a future in which bipedal bots and other machines handle routine tasks in fast-food restaurants, from greeting customers and taking orders to delivering food and cleaning floors.
The McDonald’s test, using robots made by Chinese company Keenon Robotics, comes at a time of economic contradictions in China, where companies in some industries are struggling to hire new employees while millions of young people are struggling to find work.
It is this tension that makes the McDonald’s trial so special. Restaurant operators are interested in using reliable, potentially cost-effective labor. This strategy is fueling fears of displacement among human workers in the service sector, which has been a popular route into the world of work.
However, the reality is more complicated. China’s workforce is shrinking as its population ages, while many younger job seekers are wary of taking low-paying, repetitive jobs. In this case, robotic technology could be used to fill gaps rather than simply replace humans. Still, the presence of robots in such a visible, everyday environment shows how quickly this balance can shift.
While it may be a while before McDonald’s uses humanoid robots in a more meaningful way, using them in restaurants as greeters and entertainers could potentially attract curious diners, especially families with children, who might want to interact with the machines while they wait for their food.
Even if the fast food giant eventually wants to have robots run its restaurants, such a scenario is almost certainly still many years away, simply because the technology isn’t up to speed yet. What seems more likely, at least in the short term, is a hybrid setup, with human employees handling most tasks while robots take on simpler, customer-facing roles on the front lines.
