The robot waiter will take your order now
Chinese-made androids arriving in Japan
Catering androids developed by China's Kunshan Pangolin Robot.
TOKYO -- China's Kunshan Pangolin Robot is bringing its android waiters to Japanese restaurants, with the assistance of an engineering university here.
Pangolin will set up a Japanese arm as soon as this month that will handle sales and maintenance. The company will then establish in April a research and development facility within the premises of the University of Electro-Communications. UEC's Campus Create, which aims to transfer advanced technologies to companies for commercial use, will provide support for Pangolin's Japanese venture.
The Chinese robot firm also inked a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation with Japanese peer Kikuchi Seisakusho.
Pangolin's serverbots start at 500,000 yen ($4,380) apiece. Nagasaki's Dutch-themed Huis Ten Bosch theme park is considering adopting the androids at its robot-staffed Henn-Na Restaurant.
Pangolin is headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, which is also home to the factory producing the robots. With a sales network stretching across the mainland, the company is seen holding 70% of the Chinese market in waiter robots.
