Robot waitresses bring sci-fi to Karachi

Robia and her colleague Jojo are the DIY creations of Pakistani engineer Syed Osama Aziz, who is bringing a sci-fi reboot to Karachi's storied dining scene. They have spherical white heads and dark visors, similar to a motorcycle helmet, and sport black shawls around their neck in the style of a dupatta.

Aziz, who also established The Sicilian restaurant, developed the machines using mostly locally manufactured parts, designing their circuit boards and programming them in his own lab. "The equipment, the things needed to make robots, are not so easily available here, so we had to arrange them," he.

The duo were developed through his robotics company, Cobot, with help from friends and some electronic components imported from abroad. In China and other East Asian countries especially, robots are an increasingly common sight, shuttling food to customers in chain restaurants and taking on other jobs from cleaning to greeting hotel guests.

But they remain a novelty in Pakistan, where Aziz's home-grown creations are attracting curious diners. When they arrive at a table, the customers must either take the food off their serving tray themselves or wait for a human member of staff to assist them.

Excited customers. Aziz, whose workshop manufacturing the robots is located in Multan, hopes to make his creations more sophisticated in the future. "Our plans are to add camera-based processing and image-processing features," he said.

"That means the robot will also recognise you by looking at you, and it will remember what you ordered last time, and accordingly it will be able to give you better suggestions. "For now, the robots are proving a hit with families, who flock to the restaurant to watch the machines in action.

"The best thing about it is that it introduces itself," excited customer Ahmer Zameer, explaining the robot also "tells you what things you can order". Children reach out to touch the robots while their parents snap photographs and selfies.

Young customer Sonia Dilosker said she was impressed by the androids' appearance and preferred their approach to serving customers, "because it is a machine and without any emotions". Restaurant staff say the novelty has brought a surge in customers - some travelling from across the sprawling port city to meet the robots.

"Our business has grown. People are coming from far away for this. They have seen a robot for the first time here," staff member Hellen.

"People are excited to see this. "