Las Vegas Food Workers Go on Strike to Fend Off Robots

A key issue are provisions in the contracts that the workers want to include that will prohibit their jobs from being taken by food service robots.  As noted by Futurism.com, “The servers and chefs are likely concerned because they’re seeing cooking technology creep into other kitchens. Autonomous cooks make a spectacle outside of Vegas: Meal stations cook and plate meals at Boston’s Spyce, and CafeX in San Francisco uses a single robotic arm to whip up lattes and cappuccinos. Some larger mechanisms, like Momentum Machine’s burger chef, work on the scale that Vegas needs — the robot reportedly  pumps out 400 custom burgers an hour. The Pew Research Center predicts more automation will work its way onto the food scene by 2025, and several of the center’s tech experts anticipate that food service employees will have to adapt the most.” For details, please click here.