Robots in restaurants? No thanks.

These two articles appeared right next to each other in my RSS feed this morning:

From the New York post:

McDonald’s experimenting with robot employees that look like humans — and even dress in uniform
By Zoe Hussain. Published March 22, 2026, Updated March 23, 2026, 1:34 p.m. ET

Videos posted on social media captured the myriad of lifelike robots at a McDonald’s in Shanghai performing routine tasks typically completed by human workers, such as greeting customers and delivering food.

Diners were seen interacting with the robots dressed in the fast-food joint’s iconic red-and-yellow uniforms behind counters, while children chased more of the moving machinery disguised as cute animals.

And then from Breitbart:

Robot Goes Berserk in California Restaurant Until Restrained by Staff
by Lucas Nolan. 22 Mar 2026

Staff members at a restaurant in Cupertino, California, were forced to physically restrain a humanoid robot after it began wildly flailing its arms and smashing dishware during a performance.

TechCrunch reports that a humanoid robot performing at a hot pot restaurant in Cupertino, California, created a chaotic scene when it began moving erratically, breaking plates and scattering chopsticks across the dining area. The incident required at least three employees to physically restrain the machine as it continued to swing its arms unpredictably.

Just sayin'....

Robotic basketball hoop: you can't miss a shot!

Just some random geekiness.

Georgia Tech: Shimon: Now a Singing, Songwriting Robot

Shimon: Now a Singing, Songwriting Robot
February 25, 2020

Marimba-Playing Robot Composes Lyrics and Melodies With Human Collaborators

Marimba-playing robot Shimon has learned some new skills, thanks to a class of machine learning known as deep learning. Working with human collaborators, Shimon writes lyrics and melodies — and soon, he's going on tour.

He has moves like Jagger (almost). And he’s coming to a music venue near you.

But he’s not like any performer you’ve ever seen. He’s not even human.

Shimon, the marimba-playing robot, has learned some new skills: He sings, he dances a little, he writes lyrics, he can even compose some melodies. Now he’s taking them on the road in a concert tour to support a new album — just like any other musician.

The new album will have eight to 10 songs Shimon wrote with his creator, Georgia Tech Professor Gil Weinberg. It will drop on Spotify later this spring.

“Shimon has been reborn as a singer-songwriter,” Weinberg said. “Now we collaborate between humans and robots to make songs together.”

[Listen to Shimon's first single, "Into Your Mind]

Way cool.

h/t IEEE Spectrum magazine

In Japan, everybody will be getting robots....

I just read an interesting article about a recent demonstration of two very human-like robots at the Tokyo museum.

Kodomoroid and Otonaroid are female-looking robots with surprisingly convincing personalities. They don't walk and have some bugs (not surprising with tech this cutting-edge), but the result is very impressive.

The article also described, but didn't show a photo of Telenoid. Telenoid appears to be more of an experiment - it is designed to be only minimally humanoid, with a face that could be male or female, and small enough (and soft enough) to be huggable. Telenoid is primarily (I think) meant to be remotely operated as a telepresence device, not an actual independent robot.

The article also makes reference to Pepper a three-wheeled robot designed to read human emotion from tone of voice and facial expressions, and respond appropriately. Pepper was developed by Softbank (one of the biggest Japanese telecom companies) and will likely start selling for under ¥200,000 ($2,000). At that price, if the product works as advertised, I think we'll start seeing a lot of people buying them.

Now if they can develop one that will clean the house for me, it will be perfect.