Intelligent restaurant system Smartmenu

Digital technology is transforming business in many sectors, including restaurant systems and service processes. Customers may recognize the replacement of paper-based menus with digital ones as a first step of this process. Intelligent restaurant systems are an interesting application area for merging and extension of cognitive capabilities with both intra-cognitive and inter-cognitive communication. An intelligent restaurant system Smartmenu, developed by Centria and Delitaz Ltd., is an example of innovation which is based on merging and extending of cognitive capabilities. These kinds of systems may change the everyday life in restaurants in the future. The system covers the whole order process of a restaurant including the applications of the customer, the waiter, the kitchen and the cashier. The first pilot systems were recently tested in several restaurants in Finland. Piloting included also questionnaires and interviews analyzed by usability experts. In the future, Smartmenu may be extended to include also service robots in the system. The first demonstrations of using service robot in a restaurant environment were already carried out.