Gordon Ramsay may not be invited to the Olympics this year.
Beijing is targeting robot chefs and servers to prepare and serve food to attendees at the Main Media Center of the city’s Winter Olympics to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and maximize efficacy, according to a recent Food & Beverage wine report.
“The intelligent meal preparation and meal service system here can not only improve meal delivery efficiency, but also save as much manpower as possible and prevent excessive human interaction in the context of epidemic prevention and control,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
“The media restaurant will be open 24 hours during the match and will offer various dining options such as Chinese food, western food and… fast food.”
The dining tables are armed with plexiglass barriers to keep guests safe, but as they take their seats, they order their meals on their phones rather than a waiter to greet them.
Behind the scenes, a robot chef prepares and cooks burgers, a second robot cooks rice and noodles, while another also acts as your friendly bartender and prepares a cocktail in 90 secondswith the China Global Television Network providing: this video for a glimpse of what it looks like inside the facility.
And for coffee lovers, there’s a dedicated robot that not only grinds the coffee, but also brews it in less than four minutes, without complaining.
After meals are ready, robotic arms from an electronic platform in the ceiling spring into action to deliver your meals as your own personal waiter, the movement is reminiscent of the cranes children play in arcades, only on a much larger scale and with many better odds, according to NBC Sports.
Once someone lands in Beijing to compete, work or volunteer in the games, they enter a “closed loop” where outside people can’t get in and people inside can’t go out, creating a separate Olympic’ world’ in the city, according to the Washington Post.
“There are two aspects to the Games for me: the cultural aspect and the athletics aspect,” said Bill Hancock, who is attending his 15th Olympics and a member of the American Olympic Committee.
“Well, the athletics aspect will be the same as always. But culturally this will be different. We all knew before coming here you can’t go to the noodle stand down the street. You get your noodles from the press center.”