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Restaurant Robots (1931)

The March 27, 1931 Lima News (Lima, Ohio) ran a piece titled, “Press the Button and Mechanical Man Will Pop Right Up With Meal.” Automation, as we’ve seen through countless other posts, epitomizes futurism of the 1930s. Robots (a relatively new term in 1931) seemed to often be thrown in for that extra bit of flair.

The machine age is about to take command of the world’s largest industry – the $23,000,000,000-a-year restaurant business. Hungry patrons will push various buttons representing items on the menu, their orders will be transmitted electrically to kitchen robots which will prepare their food, deliver it, collect the bills, and carry off the dishes.

See also:
Just Imagine (1930)
In a Cashless Future, Robots Will Cook (1996)
Closer Than We Think! Robot Housemaid (1959)
The Electronic Brain Made Beef Stew (1959)
The Future of Personal Robots (1986)
Donald Duck’s “Modern Inventions” (1937)
All’s Fair at the Fair (1938)
The Mechanical Man of the Future (1928)

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