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An eerily human robot cashier that can serve drinks and chat to customers will soon be up and running in Dubai, meaning baristas could become a thing of the past.
Donna Cyber-Cafe is scheduled to open in Dubai next year, with a ‘supermodel’ robot serving coffee and ice cream to customers, without the help of any human being.
Created to be the spitting image of Eastern European model Diana Gabdullina, Donna will offer prompt service and can even start conversations with customers, take selfies or tell fairy tales for those who request it.
The impressive new droid has been created to resemble a real person, allowing Donna to read customers’ emotions and move in eerily realistic ways.
Donna Cyber-Cafe will open in Dubai next year. The new droid, named Donna, will be able to talk to customers, take selfies with them, or even tell them a fairy tale.
Donna has been based on the Eastern European model Diana Gabdullina. Here the model is pictured (left) with her resemblance to an eerily similar robot (right)
The robot has silicone skin and hyper-realistic eyes, and can also transmit a wide range of micro-expressions.
The creators of Donna, whose members are from Russia, say that she has a “calm and feminine” character, she may be a “little ironic” but she is “of course, a responsible employee of the Internet cafe.”
The robot is a Robo-C2 – a humanoid robot designed to look like a human, talk like a human, express emotions, and interact with people.
The developers claim that the robots help give businesses a “competitive edge” and help attract new customers by improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.
The cafe, which will be open 24/7, will have a soft serve ice cream machine, soda dispenser, and a coffee machine with items served to customers by robotic arms.
Customers will then pay at a self-service terminal.
Robo-C2 has seen a huge rise in popularity after gaining traction on TikTok.
One account, run by the creators Promobot, has nearly three million followers and millions of likes on its videos that show robots serving coffee, learning to write and telling jokes to people.
However, many of the videos showing robots serving customers have raised concerns that they could put people out of work.
One user commented: ‘No thanks, we have humans that need work.’
Another said: ‘I want a person and if I walk into a place and a robot is serving me, I’ll walk out that door.’
An image of the Robo-C2 humanoid barista robot being used at another event. The Robo-C2 is designed to look like a human, talk like a human, express emotions and interact with people.
Robo-C2’s videos have sparked tremendous interest in robots, gaining millions of views on TikTok. However, not everyone is happy with the creation, and some fear it could put people out of work.
Donna has been a model for Diana Gabdullina, winner of the 2014 permanent beauty pageant. One of her robots was used at Vladimir Putin’s economic forum in St. Petersburg in June.
Another added: ‘People shouldn’t support businesses like this. It would be our end.
The average Promobot robot costs around $1,000 (£810.85) per day for the second version and $2,000 (£1,671) per day for the newer version, however it’s unclear how much it costs to buy.
MailOnline has contacted Promobot to find out the cost of purchasing a robot.
It is not the first time that a strange robot has replaced humans working in the hotel industry.
Earlier this year, a robot nearly identical to Donna was seen serving drinks at Vladimir Putin’s annual economic forum in St. Petersburg.
The android waitress, seen at the Russian president’s event and nicknamed Dunyasha, was one of 20 identical waitresses all made in the image of Ms. Gabdullina.
The coffee machine dispenser uses robotic arms to serve customers, while the hyper-realistic cashier talks to guests as they wait for their drinks.
The first cafes will appear in Dubai in 2023. There are RDI robotic products already working in 43 countries as managers, promoters, consultants, guides and concierges, replacing the need for ‘live’ employees
The 2014 permanent beauty pageant winner is married to Rashid Gabdullin, owner of the company that made the robot, The Mirror reported.
Those who visited the economic forum, however, criticized the robot’s equipment, calling it “a bit like a mix of The Stepford Wives and 1950s Soviet shop assistants.”
The first cafes will appear in Dubai in 2023. There are RDI robotic products already working in 43 countries as managers, promoters, consultants, guides and concierges, replacing the need for ‘live’ employees.
Promobot robots can be found at the Baltimore-Washington Airport and the Dubai Mall.
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