Robots are filling the vacancy created by the absence of human wait staff at a restaurant in a Dutch city these days, much to the amusement of its patrons.

The concept has been embraced by Dadawan restaurant in Maastricht city after the Netherlands relaxed its lockdown imposed as a measure to control the spread of Coronavirus.

News has it that the restaurant has deployed three robots called Aker, Amy, and James, to work hard at the bar at this Asian-fusion restaurant. The robot wait staff serve drinks to the customers, thereby, reducing the number of trips that human waiters would need while serving at the restaurant.

Every robot has been made to resemble a human – arms for holding trays and a cheerful face which also shows a frown at times. However, with all their humanoid features, the robot still lacks the human touch. For example, a typical message from Amy, one of the robots, would be like –“Hi, here’s your order.” The robot would further ask the customer to take the drinks from the tray, while also informing that it would leave the table within 20 seconds.

As for now, the robot service at Dadawan is restricted only to drinks delivery. However, the owners want to extend it to other aspects of the business as well. Far from being insecure with the humanoid assistants, restaurant representative Paul Seijben feels that the team is rather glad with the robots. Human staff wearing face masks put the drinks onto the trays and signals a robot to ferry the drink to its rightful table.

In the Netherlands, restaurants and eateries were shut down from mid-March 2020 to June 1; only takeaway and delivery options were kept open. After the restaurants were reopened recently, only 30 guests are allowed to be seated while maintaining a distance of at least 1.5 metres or 5 feet between tables. Advance reservation is mandatory.