It’s
the year 2015, and that means it’s time for everything to start flying! Cars, skateboards and even your food and
drinks will be taking flight soon if one restaurant based out of Singapore has
its way. The chain restaurant, known as
Timbre, is currently testing out drones that will deliver beverages and eats
from the kitchen to patrons in the dining area without anyone having to lift a
finger. How would you feel about your
meal being delivered by a drone? Let’s
go over the pros and cons of this innovative food delivery system—and feel free
to let us know in the comments which side of the board you fall on.

The WOW Factor
Let’s face it, we all want to have our food delivered to us by what is
essentially a flying robot – we can’t deny it. People will come from miles around to be apart of this one-of-a-kind
dining experience. Whether it will make life easier for patrons or restaurant
workers has yet to be seen. It could
revolutionize the way we partake of, and enjoy, eating out or it could be
something that goes the way of Crystal Pepsi – a great idea in theory, but not
well accepted by anyone.

Patrons who wish to “dine with the robots” won’t have to wait too long for the
chance. Timbre plans to roll out the
drones and have them start serving customers as early as the end of the
year. It’s probably a good idea to make
a reservation now since everyone will want to check out this exciting new
technology in action.

The Dangers
You may remember, back in 2014, a big American chain restaurant tried out
drones to deliver drinks, and things did not quite go as planned. A customer ended up getting hit in the head
by one of the drones, and was not happy with the situation at all. This is one of the many scenarios that can
occur when dealing with robotic technology – for all their technological feats,
they will still make mistakes (just like humans!)

The drones that will be used in the Singapore restaurant, however, will not fly
directly to customers and also will not fly lower than 8 ½ feet, so as not to
run into any customers or staff. The
drones will fly to two docking stations, where staff can pick up the items and
bring them to the table themselves. So, the drone will be acting more as a
middle man than a traditional food delivery system, which the company says will
be safer and more efficient.

Sonar, infrared sensors and sense-and-avoid technology are built into each
drone so that it will not run into or knock over restaurant furniture, accents
or drinks and food. The developers at
Infinium Robotics are quite excited about the potential this technology could
have on not only the restaurant business, but the world at large.