VOA慢速英语2020 美国餐厅对机器人厨师需求大增（在线收听）

More Demand for Robot Cooks in US Restaurants

Robots that can cook are in growing demand in the United States. The increased demand comes at a time when eateries are trying to put some distance between their workers and customers during the coronavirus health crisis.

美国对会烹饪机器人的需求越来越大。在新冠病毒健康危机期间，餐馆希望员工与顾客保持一定距离，因此带动了对机器人厨师的需求。

In a few weeks, White Castle restaurants will test a robot arm that can cook french fries and other foods. The robot, called Flippy, is a product of Miso Robotics, a company based in Pasadena, California.

几周后，“白色城堡”餐厅将测试使用一种可烹饪薯条和其他食物的机器人手。这款名为Flippy的机器人是位于加利福尼亚州帕萨迪纳市的Miso Robotics公司的产品。

White Castle and Miso have been discussing a partnership for about a year. Those talks intensified when COVID-19 arrived, said White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson.

“白色城堡”和Miso公司已经就双方合作关系协商了近一年。“白色城堡”副总裁杰米·理查森表示，新冠肺炎爆发后，双方的谈判进一步加强。

Richardson said the robot can free up employees for other jobs like cleaning tables or taking food delivery orders. A touch-free environment is also increasingly important to customers, he said.

理查森表示，这种机器人能让员工有时间去做其他工作，如打扫桌子或送餐。他还说，无接触式服务对顾客来说也越来越重要。

"The world has just reshaped in terms of thoughts around food safety," Richardson said.

理查森说：“人们对于食品安全方面的看法发生了改观。”

Flippy currently costs $30,000, with an additional $1,500 required for monthly service. By the middle of next year, Miso hopes to offer the robot to restaurant operators for free but require a higher monthly fee.

Flippy目前售价为30000美元，每月需要额外支付1500美元的服务费。到明年年中，Miso希望能免费向餐馆经营者提供这种机器人，但月费将会提高。

Robot food service was becoming popular even before the coronavirus pandemic. Hospitals, college dining areas and other places tried to meet demand for food while keeping labor costs low. Robot chefs appeared at places like Creator, a restaurant in San Francisco.

机器人餐饮服务在冠状病毒大流行前就开始流行了。医院和大学餐厅以及其他一些餐厅希望在保持较低劳动力成本的同时满足（顾客）对食物的需求。旧金山的Creator餐厅已经启用机器人厨师。

Now, some say, robots may become necessary for the food service industry.

现在，有人预测，机器人可能成为食品服务业的必需品。

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the risk of getting COVID-19 from touching or eating food outside the home is low. Yet there have been several outbreaks of disease reported among restaurant employees and customers.

美国疾病控制中心表示，接触或在外用餐导致感染新冠肺炎的风险很低。然而，据报道，餐馆员工和顾客间已经爆发了几起病例。

Vipin Jain is the co-founder and head of Blendid, a Silicon Valley startup company.

维宾·贾恩（Vipin Jain）是硅谷创业公司Blendid的联合创始人和负责人。

"I expect in the next two years you will see pretty significant robotic adoption in the food space because of COVID," Jain said.

贾恩表示：“预计在未来两年内，由于新冠疾病，食品领域的机器人应用将会形成规模。”

Max Elder is research director of the Food Futures Lab at the California-based Institute for the Future. Elder wonders about the future of robots once the pandemic has eased.

麦克斯·埃尔德（Max Elder）是位于加州的未来研究所食品期货实验室的研究主任。埃尔德好奇疫情缓解后这类机器人的前景。

"Food is so personal, and it needs to involve humans," he said.

他说：“食品领域非常私人化，并且需要人类参与其中。”

Elder also worries about other problems in the food system - like outbreaks among meat industry workers or workers collecting fruit and vegetables.

埃尔德还对食品系统中的其他问题表示担忧，如肉类行业工人或果蔬产品采摘工人间的疫情爆发。

He also talked about the limits of automation – the process of replacing human workers with robot workers.

他还谈到了机器自动化的局限性——用机器人代替人类作业的过程。

"We can't automate our way out of the pandemic because the pandemic affects much more than what can be automated," Elder said.

埃尔德说：“我们无法通过机器自动化摆脱疫情，因为疫情的影响远远超过自动化能够涉及的范围。”

Automated food companies say that they are not trying to replace human workers. At White Castle, Richardson says Flippy will give restaurants the ability to move workers to drive-thru lanes or redeploy them if other employees call in sick.

自动化食品公司表示，他们并没有试图取代人工。“白色城堡”餐厅的理查森表示，Flippy将提高餐厅及员工的工作效率或可以在其他员工请病假时重新规划人力安排。

But, some observers say, robots can lower the demand for labor. At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, café workers used to spend six hours per day making salads, notes Tonya Johnson, the school's director of nutrition services. But two years ago, the university added a Sally, a kind of robot that now makes around 40 salads per day. By adding Sally, the school was able to remove a job opening in its cooking staff, Johnson said.

也有一些观察家表示，机器人可以降低人类对劳动力的需求。小石城阿肯色大学医学院的营养服务部主任托尼娅·约翰逊称，过去咖啡馆的工作人员每天要花六个小时制作沙拉。两年前该大学引进了一个叫萨利（Sally）的机器人，现在它每天能做40份沙拉。约翰逊指出，引进萨利后，该大学削减了一个餐饮的工作岗位。

"I think the pandemic has made us realize how much we need more equipment like Sally," Johnson said.

约翰逊说：“我认为疫情让我们意识到，拥有萨利这样的设备的重要性。”

Miso Robotics co-founder and chief Buck Jordan said fast food restaurants are already having trouble finding workers, partly as a result of a shrinking population of young workers.

Miso机器人公司联合创始人兼首席执行官巴克·乔丹（Buck Jordan）表示，快餐店已经面临“工荒”，其中部分原因是由于年轻员工的流失。

Jordan added that his company's position is that "automation is not a choice." He added, "You must automate in order to survive the future."

乔丹补充说，公司的立场是“自动化不是选择题。而是必须实现自动化才能够在未来生存。”

I'm John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。

Words in This Story

customer – n. someone who purchases a product or service

table – n. a flat surface supported by three or more legs

delivery – n. the act of taking something to a person or place

fee – n. a fixed payment or charge for a service

pandemic – n. a disease that affects a large number of people over a wide area

significant – adj. large enough to be noticed or have an effect

adoption – n. the act or process of beginning to use something new or different

drive-thru lane – n. a passageway designed so that customers can be served while remaining in their vehicles

salad – n. a cold dish or meal made up of cooked or uncooked vegetables, usually with oil or other dressing