The Robotic, Disco-Loving Waitstaff of the 1980s
In 1983, a Chinese fastfood restaurant in Pasadena, California, added two unlikely new employees to its waitstaff: Tanbo R-1 and Tanbo R-2, a pair of robots. Each cost $20,000 (which would today be $45,000, if adjusted for inflation) and, when in proper working order, scooted around delivering bowls of chow mein and plates of peking…
