Pakistan-built robots are now delivering food at a neon-lit restaurant in Karachi. A robot waitress named Robia wheels between dining booths and drops off a fresh pizza for a waiting family, greeting guests in an electronic voice. Her colleague, Jojo, is a second machine, and both were built as do-it-yourself creations by Pakistani engineer Syed Osama Aziz.
Aziz also established The Sicilian, the restaurant where the robots work. The machines have spherical white heads and dark visors, similar to a motorcycle helmet, and each wears a black shawl around its neck in the style of a dupatta, the long scarf worn in South Asia. Their LED eyes blink red as they look down at diners. Robots of this kind are still uncommon on Pakistani restaurant floors, even as interest in humanoid machines grows in other countries.
Built with local parts and some imports
Aziz developed these Pakistan-built robots using mostly locally manufactured parts, designing their circuit boards and programming them in his own lab. He said in an interview that the equipment needed to make robots is not easy to find in Pakistan. “The equipment, the things needed to make robots, are not so easily available here, so we had to arrange them,” he said.
The robots were developed through his robotics company, Cobot, with help from friends. Some electronic components were imported from abroad, so the project combines local manufacturing with foreign supply rather than relying on one or the other.
Where robots are already common
Interest in agile humanoid robots made in the United States, China and elsewhere is growing around the world. In China and other East Asian countries especially, robots are an increasingly common sight. They shuttle food to customers in chain restaurants and take on jobs from cleaning to greeting hotel guests. In Pakistan, by contrast, they remain a novelty, which is what makes the Karachi restaurant stand out.
For now, the robots are part of daily service at The Sicilian, where they show what locally built robotics can do in a restaurant setting. Diners who visit the restaurant meet them directly.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Karachi ke ek restaurant mein Pakistan mein bane robots khana pohanchate hain aur mehmanon ko khush aamdeed kehte hain. Robot Robia aur Jojo ko injeeniyar Syed Osama Aziz ne zyadatar local parts se banaya hai. Pakistan mein aise robots abhi bhi kam nazar aatay hain, jabke China jaisay mulkon mein yeh aam ho rahay hain. Aam logon ke liye iska matlab yeh hai ke naye technology ki jhalak ab restaurants tak pohanch rahi hai.
