Speed ​​and performance are stronger, but no taste as humans

Robot chefs take over restaurants

 Robot chefs take over South Korea's roadside restaurants

On hot summer days, Chef Park Jung-eun would prepare makguksu, a traditional Korean dish made with buckwheat noodles soaked in a tangy, ice-cold broth and topped with spicy gochujang paste.

Truck drivers would come from far and wide to Munmak's rest stop, located on a highway in South Korea's mountainous Gangwon-do Province, to enjoy her food. That was until February 2024, when three robot chefs took over Munmak's kitchen.

Since then, the menu has changed, moving away from local delicacies like makguksu and slow-cooked beef stews to include dishes easy to automate, such as ramen, udon, and various types of Korean stews. The robots quickly prepare 150 meals per hour, nearly double what Park can prepare by hand, according to a report published by Rest of World.

Park recalled that when longtime customers learn that their favorite menu items are no longer available, they gasp and run out the door. "Our customers say the dishes we prepared were much tastier than what the robots serve now," said Park, 58. "Although the robots have lightened my workload, I've lost my pride in our food."

Park now finds refuge in clearing dishes in the back of the kitchen, away from the counter, where customers bombard her with scathing complaints about the food. She said they sometimes send their ramen bowls back untouched in protest.

Monmak's robot chefs are part of South Korea's push to boost automation in the service sector. South Korea already leads the world in industrial robotics, with the ratio of robots per 10,000 workers exceeding 10,000 in 2023, nearly three times the global average.

Collaborative Robots

South Korean tech companies are now using collaborative robots, or "co-bots," to work alongside humans in hotels, nursing homes, schools, and restaurants. The sector is expected to reach $367 million this year, up from $254 million in 2024, according to the Korea Science and Technology Information Institute.

Robots are expected to help solve a looming labor shortage in a rapidly aging nation, where workers aged 60 and older make up nearly a quarter of the workforce. The government plans to increase the number of robot workers to one million by 2030 as a long-term solution.

"For tasks that require significant human effort and that humans cannot perform 24/7, we need to use robots in a limited capacity, in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is witnessing significant transformations," Hamm said, referring to the current wave of automation across various industries.

Human chefs working alongside robots confirmed that they are able to work at a more relaxed pace, especially during rush hour, because the machines operate tirelessly. However, they also spoke of layoffs and loss of dignity due to automation. Some kitchen staff have even resigned, unfamiliar with the demanding nature of working alongside robots.