Shanghai unveils first AI community canteen

Visitors take photos in front of China's first community canteen powered by an artificial intelligence system at the Hongqiao community in Changning district of Shanghai. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

China's first community canteen powered by an artificial intelligence system opened at the Hongqiao community in the Changning district of Shanghai recently.

The canteen offers all the eight great cuisines of China, and more than 30 kinds of breakfast to cater to local senior residents and office workers.

Photo shows the dish area in the canteen. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

The canteen's intelligent cooking system and robotic arms can fry, bake, steam, or boil raw ingredients delivered from a central kitchen according to customers' wishes. Robotic arms then pack the dishes and adjust the temperature for dine-in or takeaway.

All diners have to do is place their dishes on a smart cashier desk and the system will automatically figure out the cost of the meal.

A diner pays for his meal at a smart cashier desk in the canteen. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

The canteen accepts a variety of payment options, including facial recognition, bank card, QR codes and digital RMB, or e-CNY.

At the canteen's unmanned wheaten food area, diners can choose from a dozen kinds of topping for their noodles.

The canteen has a smart snack machine, which is available round the clock and offers a variety of noodles.

Diners place orders on the smart snack machine in the canteen. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

The AI system ensures that the dishes taste nice and helps improve service efficiency, according to Li Ming, chief executive officer of Shanghai Xixiang Yixiang E-commerce Co. Ltd., operator and technology provider of the canteen.

Li explained that a waiter in a traditional canteen can serve dishes for 35 to 100 dinners, but with the AI system the number increases to 200.