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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Pro@programming.dev to c/technology@lemmy.world
  • Robot chefs are replacing humans at some South Korean highway restaurants.
  • Tech companies say robots can help solve labor shortage in an aging nation.
  • Workers say their roles have been downgraded from chefs to cleaning staff.
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[-] Goodtoknow@lemmy.ca 59 points 2 months ago

why is automation removing the joy and creativity of cooking instead of the dishes, which is what the person is left to do.

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 24 points 2 months ago

What do you think a dishwasher is

[-] oldfart@lemm.ee 5 points 2 months ago

More work to prep dishes for washing than actual help

[-] SnortsGarlicPowder@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago

Have you ever used a dishwasher?

[-] oldfart@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Yes, and I've been disgusted by pieces of food perma-sticked to otherwise clinically clean mugs.

[-] SnortsGarlicPowder@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago

Onto the mugs? I've never seen that happen to mugs, plates sure. Either way you can now get a sponge and clean that one problem mug rather than everything. Saves you so much time.

[-] oldfart@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

It transfers from plates to mugs somehow, which makes it extra gross

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

There are two things to do when loading a dishwasher:

Give the dishes a rinse so there's not 1/4th of a meal left on the plate. It's not a miracle worker.

Don't let the dirty plates sit in the machine for long enough for the dirty leftovers to dry out and stick to the plate, that makes it much harder for the machine to clean it. If that happens, run a long program.

[-] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

You know that is usually remedies by just not putting plates with half a meal still left on them into the dishwasher.

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[-] Melonpoly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Are you using a European or American dishwasher?

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[-] Melonpoly@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

... you don't need to prep your dishes before putting it in the dishwasher.

[-] jrs100000@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

How much joy and creativity do think there was in these places before?

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

When I was a cook, even if I was just making something simple, I could still find creative satisfaction in a variety of ways. How you sprinkle on the garnish, plating, using a little more of this, a little less of that. Food to a chef is like art designed to be destroyed, so with the temporary nature of the medium, it really allows you to be creative. You're not hung up on making it perfect, because it's just about to be eaten, so it let's you be more free with your design choices. It can be fun creating art while you're supposed to be working.

but if my job was suddenly just washing up after a machine... well. That will get old real quick.

[-] 3abas@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

The first paragraph is a fantasy.

In this restaurant, where the chef was replaced by a salad machine, the "chef" was a human salad machine before. There was no time to play with garnish and playing, they weren't serving Michelin star food. The term "chef" is used very liberally here, you aren't a chef if the only thing you cook at a restaurant is assemble salad that a machine can do to the same standard.

They were assembling salads, it wasn't a dream job.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Literally not a fantasy, but my and a lot of cooks reality.

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[-] invertedspear@lemm.ee 8 points 2 months ago

More than there was before the cooks got put on dishwashing and floor mopping.

[-] 0x0@infosec.pub 5 points 2 months ago

Imagine being able to automate a cook but science still hasnt come far enough for some kind of dish washing machine and a robotic vaccum cleaner, weird huh

[-] DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Buddy you guys are acting like they can automate professional chefs? You're lucky when they don't tear your arm off giving you the food.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Automation should replace cooks, but in fast food restaurants instead of proper ones. They should free up people who work brain-dead jobs at Mcdonalds or KFC to let them work at other places, including other proper restaurants that don't make fast food.

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Lol yeah right. I'm sure the only thing stopping Brandon from working at a Michelin restaurant is his McDonald's job off of I-95

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

So it's better that he never even gets the opportunity to try to make it there? It's better if he works at Mcdonalds until he's 60?

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[-] cm0002@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Are they really making the food worse, or are people just biased against it because a robot made it? Because humans are perfectly capable of making shit food themselves as well

In any case, in a world where 1st world countries actually took care of their citizens this would be a non-issue. Either there would be some sort of UBI program in place for workers that get replaced by robots or a worker re-training program or a combination of both (e.g. people still have an income during that training).

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 12 points 2 months ago

Either there would be some sort of UBI program in place for workers that get replaced by robots

UBI wouldn't be just for workers that get replace by robots. The "U" in "UBI" is Universal, meaning everyone gets the Basic Income. From the guy with untreated mental illness that hangs out in the park to the richest billionaire.

[-] cm0002@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Well yea, but rolling it out slowly as people get "displaced" is how it would realistically get started IMO. It would be quite a taxing program for any country to just suddenly start

[-] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago

The problem is that SK(and a vast majority of the rest of the world) have declining birth rates. South Korea doesn't have a "staffing" issue, they have a people being born issue. And most of the rest of us are gonna start feeling it soon too!

If something drastic doesn't change for SK soon, in 30-60 years they won't have enough people working to cover pensions, let alone UBI.

[-] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 7 points 2 months ago

You can pay for ubi by taxing the robots, both physical and digital.

UBI is entirely possible if we transfer just a fraction of the wealth from corporations back to people.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

You can pay for ubi by taxing the robots, both physical and digital.

This suggestion is raised frequently, and quickly falls apart under scrutiny.

Give you me your definition of a "digital robot".

[-] x00z@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago
[-] Goretantath@lemm.ee 6 points 2 months ago

Thats called "eyeballing the recipie"

[-] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Love… apathy… it’s 2025, that Venn Diagram is a circle.

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[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

That's what I'm thinking. I bet if you put a human-prepared meal and a robot-prepared meal next to each other and didn't tell the customer which is which, they wouldn't be able to tell. It's like how wine tastes better if you think it's more expensive.

[-] TRBoom@lemm.ee 20 points 2 months ago

I lived in Korea for a couple of years and ate at some of these places while traveling.

It was honestly always good. Basically you do a quick order, get a ticket, then get your food. I always got the fried pork cutlet. That shit was the bomb.

Now that I am back in the states I miss the level of care and dedication that Koreans put into the food they make and I’d go back again just for the eats.

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

They are useful when someone works late shifts and wants something proper at like 12pm when every kitchen worker has long gone home. They usually offer a more limited menu but it‘s honestly a neat idea.

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

These have been in use in German cantinas for a while as well. Usually inside hospitals or larger office spaces.

[-] Goretantath@lemm.ee 4 points 2 months ago

So, why not just replace humans at odd hours of the night some rando walks in, and keep em during normal buisness hours?

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

Never thought about it before, but is there science fiction with a premise where humans might someday forget how to cook because it’s no longer a part of the culture?

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

Star trek touches on it a bit. Some people definitely still cook in the shows, but it's almost seen as a thing for special occasions.

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

That’s a good point! SNW does have Pike cooking for some of his crew on occasion.

[-] Xatolos@reddthat.com 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The Feeling of Power might be close enough. It's an Isaac Asimov short story from 1958. Basic plot is that people have become so reliant on computers, they can't do basic math or counting. It's about what happens with mental decline with making machines do all the thinking. (There is more, and the link explains the story but I feel that I shouldn't include spoilers, even for a 50+ year old story.

If you want, you can read the scans of the original here.

Also, Dad's Nuke touched on this kind of subject with people having get together and they have to make their own food and come with things like Jalapeno Pie/Cake(?) and other interesting dishes which indicates that people are already losing the ability to do basic cooking.

[-] veeesix@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

That’s so cool, thank you. I never delved into Asimov before, but it’s sounds like I really should.

[-] Carrolade@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

Not off the top of my head. Cooking is frequently a recreational hobby though, it's essentially an art form. So I think it's about equally likely that dancing, painting or making music fade away.

[-] sem 2 points 2 months ago

Sewing is fading away but maybe that's different enough

[-] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

People do crossstitch and make unique outfits all the time. Everyone not in rich consumer countries (and the poorer people in those countries) all learn at least basic stiching.

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

I think this is what SK has to do, given their slowly dwindling population. Staffing restaurants with robots will let the people who would have worked there get employed at places that may need a human worker.

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this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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