[ti:Robots Ready to Work in Restaurants]
[ar:Bob Doughty]
[al:Science In The News]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]For many years, machines have been doing work that people once did, 
[00:04.69]including some difficult jobs. 
[00:07.11]Search and rescue operations in dangerous environments 
[00:11.92]are often seen as the first areas that will employ high technology robots. 
[00:18.35]But there is another area that may soon take jobs traditionally 
[00:23.63]held by human beings: the restaurant industry.
[00:27.74]Teams from around the world competed in early June 
[00:31.66]at the DARPA Robotic Challenge Finals in California. 
[00:36.35]A team from South Korea and its robot, called DRC-Hubo, 
[00:42.58]won first place in the competition. 
[00:45.36]The second and third place finishers were from the United States.
[00:50.96]The robots were required to drive a vehicle, 
[00:54.90]climb up steps and do mechanical work. 
[00:58.93]Such activities are easy for humans to perform, 
[01:03.67]but more difficult for machines.
[01:06.51]Not all of the competitors were successful. 
[01:10.25]The failures showed how difficult it is to design effective walking machines.
[01:17.77]Recently, crowds gathered for the food machinery and technology show in Tokyo, Japan. 
[01:25.76]They witnessed a robotic chef preparing food. 
[01:30.05]Other machines cooked, baked tasty pastries and even made sushi.
[01:36.58]Akihiro Suzuki works at Yaskawa Electric, 
[01:41.39]a company that develops robots. 
[01:43.69]He says robots cannot do everything a human can, 
[01:48.82]but they are able to work without becoming tired.
[01:52.71]He says robots cannot taste food, 
[02:00.00]change heating levels or seasonings to get the best flavor. 
[02:04.79]But he says if a food can be easily prepared, 
[02:09.17]a robot can repeat the same movement to reproduce the same meal.
[02:14.59]One Japanese woman who saw the robots working wanted to bring them home.
[02:21.53]Masayo Mori says she would like to have a husband who could work like a robot.
[02:30.04]Suzumo Machinery demonstrated its sushi maker robot. 
[02:36.00]It performs the often difficult work of wrapping the popular Japanese food. 
[02:42.37]Hiroshi Monden is an official with the company.
[02:46.65]He says people all over the world now eat sushi, 
[02:56.57]but there are not enough skilled workers to prepare it. 
[03:00.60]He says his machine can help anyone make sushi.
[03:05.43]Other robots have been created to help decorate cakes and cut and peel apples.
[03:12.70]I'm Bob Doughty.
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