A Robot Cooked My Goose!

By Sudeshna Sarkar

Its lunch hour on a weekday and the little restaurant in central Beijing is packed to the gills. Harried-looking waiters run from table to table to cope with the stream of orders and the managers fingers fly like lightning over the calculator as she totes up bills.

In sharp contrast to these hectic activities， the little kitchen， visible through the long narrow glass window that partitions it from the dining hall， is an oasis of calm. A lean but efficient army of three cooks is dishing out the orders， working in perfect coordination and harmony. One is setting out the food， another is briskly stirring a bubbling mass in a massive cauldron， and the third is slicing a large ball of dough with clockwork precision， making a shower of uniformly sized noodles fall into the waiting basket at his foot.

But wait a minute， the slicer doesnt appear to have any feet！ The busy hands are attached to a torso that abruptly ends on the table on which he has been placed. The head， which never looks up even when people are taking his photographs by the dozen， looks as if its permanently encased in a bikers helmet. There is something strange indeed about this chefs assistant. You are right. Meet Ultraman， the robocook.

For those weaned on books and movies about intergalactic wars and robots taking over， China is one of the best places to see some of those wild tales come to fruition. The International Federation of Robotics has predicted that by next year， China will have the largest number of robots working in its manufacturing sector than any other country. It is already the largest market in the global robot trade worth $9.5 billion and wherever you cast your eyes， there are the steely little men - or women - hard at work. Robots are farming fields in the countryside， running production lines， hoovering apartments and helping in the kitchen. You can buy them from impressive showrooms where there are demonstrations available or simply buy them online at Taobao.

At Beijing Jinlaoxi Shifu， where we have strolled in for our lunch， theres a diligent robot making noodle slices for dao xiao mian， a Shanxi specialty noodles which will be served to us in an egg and tomato soup. Li Hei， the 34-year-old chef who has been with the restaurant for six years， says the robot was bought in 2013 to assist him. It has been christened Ultraman after a robot in a Japanese film or TV series. “Hes a big help，” Li says indulgently. “Earlier， I had to do the slicing myself. Now with him taking care of that business， I can cook faster. Besides， his noodles are uniform， with the same length and breadth. I feel the food tastes a tad better.” Dong Xiumei， the manager， says Ultraman is a hit with new diners， who watch him at work transfixed. “They love to take his photo，” she says.

The restaurant has a branch in Beijing and other branches outside. There are robots at work at both the capital units. However， for the seasoned Beijinger， a robocook is nothing new. Wang Hongyuan， a young editor at Chinese Machine Press who has come to have lunch with his two pals， points out that robotic staff are old hat. “This is Beijing， not a village，” Wang says derisively. I remember then reading somewhere that a hotel in Shenzhen - the Pengheng Space Capsule Hotel - has a bevy of robot staff. I also remember the excitement in our office last year when Chinese Internet service provider Tencent created a robot， Dreamwriter， who wrote an entire article about the consumer price index. Everyone said it was far more lucid than economists analyses.

I am all agog at the thought of a brave new world with such wonderful helpmates. Where else can I find robots at work？ What else can they do in China？

My friend and colleague Zheng Yang has the answer. “Sometime back， there was a discussion on Chinese social media and someone had posted a forlorn request： I want a boyfriend，”Zheng said. “And in no time at all， someone had sent an answer.‘Have this one， it said， adding a picture.

“It was the photo of a robot.”