Sideswipe: August 25: Can robot staff fill the hospo gap?

Restaurants in the Phoenix area are using robots as servers. So, how's that working out? The Phoenix New Times explains the growth in restaurants around the world using robots as servers: "The cute, talking, rolling automated servers assist with marketing as well, in mass media, social media, and even old-fashioned word-of-mouth." The robots in the Phoenix area have been a real hit and speak, play music and deliver water and soft drinks. But in China, the novelty is wearing off. Two restaurants in Guangzhou, China, that had become famous for using robot servers, ended up closing. Spectrum, a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, explains: As far as we can tell, all of these waiter robots can do essentially one thing: travel along a set path while holding food. They can probably stop at specific tables, and maybe turn or sense when something has been taken from them, but that seems to be about it." And considering much of the staffing issues in hospitality are in the kitchen, a robot with a knife and hot oil, doesn't sound like a good idea.

Not exactly a lie

Now that's dark

1. In 1915 Inventor Percy Terry of Los Angeles believed that he had perfected an ointment that would toughen the skin so much that it would become bulletproof. He envisioned "an army of bulletproof men who could advance with immunity against anything less than cannon". He decided to test the ointment on himself. After rubbing it into his skin for several weeks, he shot himself in the face. It transpired he wasn't bulletproof. He died at the County Hospital.

2. A Chinese company has sparked controversy online after it was reported that it forces employees to eat raw eggs as punishment for not meeting expectations. It all started when a second-year university student surnamed Du took to social media to complain about his experience as an intern for a Zhengzhou technology company. He claimed that the said company had a bizarre rule where employees had to swallow raw eggs if they didn't get enough orders in a set period of time or otherwise failed to meet management expectations.