“Please enjoy your meal,” said Nepal’s first robot waiter, Ginger, as she delivered a plate of steaming dumplings to a table of hungry customers.
The Himalayan nation is better known for its soaring mountain peaks than technological prowess, but a group of self-taught young innovators are seeking to change that.
Nepalese start-up Paaila Technology built Ginger, a 1.5m robot, from scratch and programmed her to understand English and Nepali.
Photo: AFP
The bilingual humanoid robot — named Ginger after a common ingredient in Nepalese cuisine — can even crack jokes like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa.
Three “Gingers” work at the Naulo restaurant in the capital, Kathmandu, where pot-holed roads and crumbling buildings still bear the scars of a powerful earthquake that hit more than three years ago.
“This is our testing ground. We are fine-tuning it with responses from our customers,” Paaila Technology chief executive officer Binay Raut said.
Photo: AFP
The team of 25 young engineers — Raut is the oldest at 27 — worked for months to build the robot, welding and molding the prototype by hand in their tiny three-roomed office.
What Nepal lacks in tech infrastructure, the engineers made up for in ingenuity — Ginger’s sleek-looking plastic body was painted in a neighborhood car workshop.
Naulo opened its doors four months ago and their robot waiters have been a big draw, attracting curious customers of all ages.
Ginger, who is able to sense movement and obstacles, deftly navigates the crowded restaurant carrying trays laden with food.
Customers order via a touch-screen menu fitted into the tables, and Ginger is called to the kitchen when dishes are ready.
“It was a completely new experience,” said Shalikram Sharma, 73, who was born before televisions were available in Nepal.
Ginger has become quite a selfie star and is often distracted from her work by children keen to get a photograph with the robot.
“They look so good. I could not believe they were made in Nepal,” said Neelam Kumar Bimali, a diner enjoying an evening meal with his family.
With its eyes on the global market, Paaila Technology is in the process of patenting its design to sell at home and abroad.
The World Economic Forum recently predicted that by 2025 more than half of all jobs are to be performed by robots — almost twice as many as today.
That is a trend Ginger’s creators are banking on.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS