Robopocalypse #20: If the Bots Open a Restaurant, Will the Economy Notice?

Welcome to the Robopocalypse Report!  

This is my periodic round up of the news of what's going on in robotics and other disruptive automata coming to our economy.  I call it the 'pocalyse out of sense of joke, not because I think the economy is going to be pilfered by the bots.  It will be a big change to our economy and one with challenges, but its also an enormous opportunity, as big as the DotCom boom, if not more so.  One you will have to grab with both hands and hold on tight. 

Drones are turning into a menace of sorts.  People need to use common sense, but aren't.  I suppose it goes back to the 'common sense isn't' mantra, but...A drone crashed into the stands at the US Open. The pilot has been arrested.  Drones have been sighted near a NC airport.  British Columbia is joining the attempts to restrict drones near fire fighting.

Aerial dog fences are proclaimed to be insufficient to stop drones.  True, but its the aerial equivalent of a "do not cross" line.  Rather than blanket banning of drones in places, placing ADFs like regular fences ought to be required.  Cross the line below the max height and its criminal trespass. 

We are now up to *TEN* attempts to smuggle contraband into prisons in the last six months...in Britain!

The outlook for drones in Latin America is rather cloudy.

For self driving cars, let's start with a bit of humor.  Google's self driving car had an encounter with a granny in a motorized wheel chair chasing ducks.  Wuh?!

Toyota is investing $50 million into self driving car technology and hired the guy who ran DARPA's Robotics Challenge.

Regulators are being rather tolerant of Google's self driving cars.  This is a good thing.

Google is more optimistic than the traditional car makers about self driving cars.

The first obnoxious flaw in self driving cars has been found: using low power lasers, you can trick the car into seeing objects not really there.

In 3d Printing, UNLV has teamed up with Local Motors to work on 3d printed cars.  Here's another commentary on 3d printed cars.  A Vancouver man designed a 3d printed car as well.

WASP unveiled the world's largest 3d printer...for houses!

A cookie dough printer is going on sale in asia next year and will follow once it has approval in the US and Europe.  Another food printer was unveiled in China.  3d printing may revolutionize the food processing industry.  In Singapore, they want to take it further and bioprint meat.

There will be 3d printed clothing.  Or erm, its already started.

In the robots in the restaurant side of Robopocalypse, Eatsa is the first automated restaurant to open.  It reminds me more of the old automats, but with, well, quinoa. 

There is an argument over whether or not the minimum wage hikes will speed up the introduction of the bots in the fast food kitchens. The Washington Post says, 'yes.'  Others are stating the Robopocalypse in the Restaurant was coming anyways.  I'm in the latter camp.

In the traditional robotics side, a physicist and custom robotics maker claims we will have a 'human-like' robot within 8 years.  He uses the Moore's Law fallacy though.  Moore's Law is toast.

The mobile robotics market is expected to grow.

In the software bot side, the next generation of virtual assistants has almost arrived.

IBM is running ads promoting Watson.  The end is nigh, folks!

In the cyber warfare side, China is laying out its positions with respect to sovereignty and the internet.

On the philosophy and economics side of things, Forbes declares the future is more Ironman and less Terminator.

Will the bots create or destroy more jobs?  Isn't that the question.

Robopocalypse for Waiters...in Singapore by end of 2015

Restaurant-goers in Singapore can expect to be served by autonomous flying robots – the world’s first commercial attempt – by the end of next year.

Infinium-Serve, the autonomous flying robotic waiters, will be first launched at one of Timbre Group’s five outlets in Singapore. Infinium Robotics CEO Woon Junyang estimated the project to cost a “low seven-figure sum” for the five outlets, subject to final negotiations and certain variables of the actual deployment of the robots.

Infinium Robotics signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Timbre Group on Oct 31. Both companies are seeking productivity-related government grants to help offset deployment costs.

Mr Woon said he is confident that such robotic solutions will help alleviate the Singapore’s labour crunch. Introducing this technology into restaurants would take away mundane tasks of serving food and drinks, and allow human waiters to focus on higher-value tasks such as getting feedback from customers, he said.

link.

I have my sincere doubts about quadcopters delivering food in a restaurant.  For one, the noise of several quads flying in a room would be nuts.  Another point is air traffic control.  A ground absed solution strikes me as far better in this case.  

A Little bit of Awesomeness: the Ties Between the USS New Mexico & Mesilla's La Posta Restaurant

On a weekday afternoon Dick Brown, Chairman of the USS New Mexico committee of the Navy League is giving a presentation about the nuclear-powered submarine to an audience at the Branigan Cultural Center in Las Cruces.

Brown gives these updates to people all over the state to raise awareness and funds for the crew of the USS New Mexico.

“We do things for the crew that the Navy cannot do. One of those things is that we bring crew members to New Mexico so that they understand the state a little bit better. They learn about the geography, the history, and the culture. We usually have about five or six sailors about twice a year,” says Brown.

According to Brown, the crew has learned much about New Mexico and the submarine also has a southwest decor throughout the ship that is hard to miss.

“There are pictures of Carlsbad Caverns, The Balloon Fiesta, and White Sands. The bunk curtains have a Southwest-Native American design, including the pilot, and co-pilot chairs in the diving station,” says Brown.

Another part of the USS New Mexico that shares something in common with the state is the galley, or kitchen. It is named after La Posta de Mesilla, a popular Southern New Mexico restaurant housed in a centuries-old adobe building in the town of Mesilla.

Navy Captain Mark Prokopius, a former commander of the USS New Mexico shares the story about a contest that led to the naming of the submarine’s galley.

“When we decided that we were going to name our galley we put it up to the crew and there were several restaurants that were in the running to be named,” says Cpt. Prokopius.

Tom Hutchinson owns and operates La Posta de Mesilla with his wife Jerean. He is a former Navy Captain and aviator and actually worked with submarines during his time in the Navy.

“They sent several of their Mess specialists down here and trained with us for two to three days, took all that information after visiting all of the establishments back to Virginia, visited with the Skipper and the final vote and tally was that they would name their galley after La Posta de Mesilla,” says Hutchinson.

The crew decided to name it La Posta Abajo del Mar (La Posta under the sea). Captain Prokopius says that restaurant in Mesilla really represented what the crew was looking for.

“When I sold this to the crew and told them about La Posta being a family-owned, Tom Hutchinson being a former Navy captain, and a family oriented restaurant; It really seemed like a perfect fit,” says Cpt. Prokopius.

After the contest ended the crew's culinary specialists were sent to the restaurant to learn recipes. Hutchinson and his employees gave the crew members a firm understanding of the restaurant’s cuisine.

link.

The Singularity Is Nigh: Robots Make Gourmet Hamburgers Faster, Better than Fast Food Joints

First link.

 Company website.


DOOMDOOMDOOM!

Speaking of LC Restaurants...

The Guinness Book of World Records already has a largest hamburger designation on the books, but a southern New Mexico cafe is going for a spicier title: world's largest green chile cheeseburger.

The burger, crafted by Peppers Cafe in Mesilla, features a 10-inch diameter, 1-pound burger, a half-pound of cheese and three green chiles all between two specially made buns, said restaurant owner C.W. "Buddy" Ritter.

"We sold 20 of them yesterday, and we're very surprised they're selling like they are," Ritter said.

He said the cafe, which operates in the Double Eagle restaurant, sent an application to Guinness to make the burger the largest commercially available green chile cheeseburger in the world.

Oh Jason...this one has your name on it! Better take the whole crew.

Las Cruces, New Mexico Restaurants to Eat at and I Miss

While I have developed some tastes that are different from my days in southern New Mexico, I keep coming back to what I used to eat there and what I truly miss. I had a conversation lately with a friend while at work that made me think about how back a bit, Julia was looking for restaurants in Las Cruces when she was roadtripping across the US, so why not put up a post for places I liked for people to reference if they are passing through. My Las Crucen friends can correct me or add some as well. So I went to Yelp for help: yep, I've got some Cali influences after all this time out here...finally...

If you are in southern New Mexico, you ought to be going to a NMican restaurant. Honestly, the Mesilla Valley cooking style is pretty unique and you ought to be munching on that rather than what you can get elsewhere. There were several places I loved there for that. First off is Nellie's, but it's really pretty close to a hole in the wall and the source of my most infamous story. It's mostly a lunch place though as I recall: Litlte Nellie's I liked a bit better, but it faded into history even befire I left LC. Next up is Si Senior's. It has a nice atmosphere, but the food wasn't as good as Nellie's. In Mesilla, rather than LC proper, is La Posta. I liked going there quite a bit. The food was good and the atmosphere good, too. Now, outside of LC altogether, but a must visit is Chope's. Really. Get a rellano. mmmmm. (Old Man Chope damn near ran southern NM about a century ago, but anyways...) It can have a wait to get a table though, so just be warned.

If you are feeling that you want something else and are in the Las Cruces, then may I suggest either Greek (Tiffany's, unpretentious and the owner is a very friendly man. The helpings are fscking HUGE and the pizza is killer. Esp if you are Jason Lowery's lower intestine). There's also International Delights. More general med, but attached to a store. I used to get Turkish Delight there, a serious weakness, it is. If you like Italian, Lorenzo's used to be very good, but I've been hearing reports that things are not well in my old waitress oggling haunt: Vince! How could you let it go!

If you are looking for asian cuisine, alas, Tatsu is dead (japanese), but the owners started up Aqua Reef. They used to own Mix. I wasn't as impressed with it though: asian fusion, but...eh. I used to get chinese at Dynasty, but solitary review is rather frightening: however, back when, the Mu Hsu pork was awesome. For thai, there's Lemongrass. It was good, but a bit spendy, as I recall. I've had better Thai out here at smaller, less impressive places, but Thai folks were not as common in LC when I was there.

For coffee shops, if you are looking for a cup, I'd recommend Milagro and Red Mountain Cafe. I used to buy gifts for my coffee addict (!!!) sister and get Paninni's at Milagro. RMC I used to grab a bite before movies and when hanging with Rahrah. (wow, not said that name in a long time).

For a good burger, Guacamole's was quite good. For a deli, DG's used to be excellent, but it was sold just before I left and the quality declined. It sounds like its been sold once more, so I have no idea how good it is these days. They all used to be paired with the Brown Bag Deli's in town and owned by the same guy. He sold them off just prior to me going to college and he just supplied the meat and whatnot to them. They stayed very good until around 2000...then ugh. The funny part is Thumann's Meats were the ones that were the suppliers...and I just saw their brand meat for sale at one of my favourite grocery stores here in the Bay. Tried their stuff and it was as good as I remembered.

(as an aside, BB just opened a second location...not been there yet, but its supposed to be bigger and just as good)

For slightly nicer dining, I used to like Cattle Baron's. By the snobbish standards of the SF Bay area, not that nice a place. However, I think its a wonderful place. I used to love their teriyaki steak with the creamed horse radish. As good as it gets, at least in my experience, in LC was the Double Eagle. I can count on a very low number of fingers the number of times I went there though. lol.

We will take a moment of silence for the places that I miss that have passed on.

Little Nellie's (new mexican)...

Tatsu (japanese)...

The Med Cafe (mediterrainean)...

Casbah (morrocan)...

Brass Cactus Bistro (ummm...)

and the greatest loss of them (well, LN was a huge hit, but it happened the year before I left):

O'Ryan's. A pub that had the genius dish of frilies: breaded and fried green chile. Damn that was good. They also had some seriously good burgers and fried mushrooms and nachos and a frak load more. That was a huge hit. I wanted to take Lyuda there when we came way back, but...apparently it was sold to someone else and they promptly ran it into the ground. *sighs* That was after I left though.

I've seen it a couple times out here: there seems to have been a New Mexican restaurant in San Francisco that opened recently. I really ought to see what portion of NM they are taking their cuisine from. Probably up north, but...we can see. We can see. I better not have tamed it for the weak Cali palettes! Yelp hints its NM inspired rather than NMican. grr. I hope that they at least don't put rice in the burritos. bah, mission style. ;)