This is Neat: Nissan's Ramen Robot Drives on Counters
E-4orce technology allows for smooth acceleration and braking without sloshing.
I’m not sure if this is a real product or not, but Nissan posted a YouTube video earlier this week showing off a ramen robot. No, it’s not a Yo-Kai Express competitor. This robot is a small, RC-car-looking device that drives around a restaurant countertop dropping off hot bowls of ramen to customers.
The li’l ramen-bot features Nissan’s e-4orce (← rad) dual motor technology that smooths acceleration and braking so hot broth doesn’t spill over the side of the bowl when the robot comes to a stop.
From a Google Translation of the Nissan e-4orce (←still rad) page:
"E-4 ORCE RAMEN Counter" is a new technology installed in Nissan ARIYA
A ramen counter inspired by "e-4ORCE".
e-4ORCE has powerful driving performance and twin motor four-wheel control technology.
Achieves stable and flat running and reduces back and forth shaking during deceleration.
Even at this ramen counter, with powerful running and flat deceleration,
We will deliver the ramen to your seat without spilling it.
While that technology is actually pretty useful for a lot of beverage carrying robots, again, I’m not sure if this is an actual product that restaurants can go out and lease/buy. It seems like it might have a very narrow use case. A restaurant would need a countertop that is wide enough to accomodate both a customer’s plate and a track that the robot could drive on. But! If your restuarant did meet those conditions—well, I would eat there for every meal.
I don’t know how much I should tie this in to the overall trend of server robot adoption we’re seeing. Robot servers from Bear Robotics, Pudu Technologies, and Orionstar are quickly finding homes at restaurants of all sizes. But those are for larger restaurants with individual tables.
Who knows? Maybe restaurants that use conveyor belts to send food around will retrofit those belts and turn them into racetracks.