A Richtech Robotics Matradee robot delivers food to Maurice Smith and Najee Smith at Catchers Fish House Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. Employees have named the robot Caribbean Mike.
Monday, Feb. 21, 2022 | 2 a.m.
As he walked past the entrance of a strip mall restaurant on the west side of Las Vegas with a group of friends Friday afternoon, something caught teenager Andrew Castro’s attention.
No longer worried about keeping pace with his group, Andrew stopped to peer through the front entrance to Catcher’s Fish House to watch a 4-foot-tall robot bring entrees to a table inside the restaurant.
“That’s a nice robot,” said the 16-year-old Bonanza High School student. “I haven’t seen anything like that before. I was curious when I saw that thing move by itself. I’d like to come here to eat sometime.”
Instead of arms and legs, the robot has four trays and moves around on wheels while tapped into a set of sensors pasted along the restaurant’s ceiling. It’s known as a “Matradee” model and is manufactured by a company called Richtech Robotics, which is headquartered in Texas but also has a presence in Las Vegas. The Trattoria by Chef Marc Sgrizzi at the Ahern Hotel also has a Richtech robot.
When the robot, which retails for close to $10,000, arrives at a table with food and/or drinks, a high-pitched voice notifies that “your meal is ready, please take it away.” When it’s traveling to or from its hub station behind the front counter, the robot will sense if someone is in its way.
In that case, it will ask the person to move, “otherwise I’ll get fired,” it says.
The ownership group for Catcher’s, which includes Maurice Smith of Las Vegas, saw the addition of the robot as a way to complement its human staff, not replace it.
“It’s technology, and that’s where we are now,” Smith said. “It’s a technology world. The robot isn’t here to take jobs away from people; it’s here to help people. It can help prevent back aches and slipping incidents. The robot isn’t going to slip.”
Catcher’s, which was previously located near the Las Vegas Convention Center, opened in 2019, but had to close for a time after the pandemic hit. The restaurant reopened in its new location in December, with Richtech’s robot as a fresh twist for its reboot.
The acquisition of the robot was mostly the work of co-owner Paul White, who tends to be the innovator of the group.
“Customers get a kick out of it,” Smith said. “It’s an eye-catcher, especially when people hear it talk, and especially with kids.”
The robot provides a glimpse of what the future could look like in the food service industry, joining other areas of automation making strides in recent years. It’s widely expected that self-driving cars and semi-trucks will increase substantially on American roadways in the coming decades.
And inside the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, a dual robotic bartender system designed by a German company called the KUKA Robotics Corporation can make custom drinks in about 90 seconds. All a customer needs to do is download a smartphone app to make a purchase, though human employees are on hand to help if something isn’t right.
Of course, any job that can be done by a robot could take a job from away from a laborer.
Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents about 60,000 workers in Las Vegas’ hospitality industry, said in an email that there aren’t robots like the Richtech units in establishments where Culinary members are employed.
Khan said the union’s leadership has “fought hard” and won protections for workers as new forms of technology develop. As part of a Culinary Union contract with resorts from 2018, employers are required to notify union leadership of any plan to implement new technologies in certain areas, and they must “negotiate” the parameters of any such implementation.
“We negotiated a strong contract in 2018,” Khan said. “The Culinary Union isn’t against technology, but we fought hard for innovative language to protect workers when companies bring in new technology.”
Catcher’s co-owner Charles Thomas said there are many tasks the robot isn’t able to do, meaning a restaurant like his will likely always its human employees.
“When it’s busy, it can get backed up,” Thomas said. “This way, if somebody’s backed up, they can get a drink order and put those drinks on the robot, punch in the table, and move on to the next thing. This robot can’t program itself or clean tables.”
On this Friday night, the small restaurant was busy indeed, though the robot could only operate on one side of the dining area. That’s because the sensor system for the other side hadn’t been hooked up yet, though that was in the works, Thomas said.
If all goes according to plan, the group hopes to soon have an additional Las Vegas Valley location, and possibly another robot.
“It’s a good tool to have,” Smith said. “It kind of has its own personality. It’s fun.”
