(17 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Havana, Cuba – 9 April 2025
1. Robot moving with order to restaurant table
2. Waitress serving food to customers
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Sonia Pérez, restaurant customer:
“The robot is going to come here and bring me the food I ordered! I mean, I saw a robot and I said, well now, this is like the movies, the robot does everything, it brings me food. It says, ‘thank you.’ I reply, ‘you’re welcome.’ It shakes hands with me. It says ‘goodbye’ and I say, ‘goodbye’ to it.”
4. Robot moving across tables to loading area
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yadiel Hernández, restaurant manager:
“It was an interesting idea to bring a robot to Cuba. It has allowed us to get to other types of customers and surprise them because it’s something new.”
6. Various of robot connecting to charging dock
7. Japanese restaurant customer Ohata Mariko laughing, UPSOUND (English): “Okay, okay It’s just funny.”
8. Mariko ordering online
++IMAGES OVER SOUNDBITE++
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariko Ohata, restaurant customer from Japan:
“I put my (headphones on), and it’s just a touch panel, right? I can take everything."
10. Robot moving around tables
STORYLINE:
Even as Cuba continues to grapple with power outages, one restaurant in Havana made a bold decision to embrace the 21st century technology and automate.
A robot waiter has become the new star of Doña Alicia restaurant.
Customer Sonia Pérez said she felt like she was in a movie.
She looked at a digital menu, with voice assistant help from Alexa, and a robot brought her food.
“The robot does everything, it brings me food, it says thank you, I reply, you’re welcome, it shakes hands with me, it says goodbye, and I say goodbye to it,” Perez explained.
Although automation at restaurants might be common in other parts of the world, in Cuba, it is a risky bet due to frequent electricity cuts and the lack of specialized maintenance and spare parts.
Doña Alicia opened seven years ago and gradually became more tech-friendly.
First, tablets were placed on the tables, then Alexa service was introduced, and finally, a robot.
“It was an interesting idea to bring a robot to Cuba. It has allowed us to reach different types of customers and surprise them,” said Yadiel Hernandez, manager of Doña Alicia.
"It’s comfortable to be here,” said Mariko Ohata, a Japanese costumer, who praised the service at the restaurant.
Internet came late to Cuba in the 1990s and became widely available on cell phones in 2018.
Nowadays, over 70% of the island’s population is online.
AP video shot by Ariel Fernández and Milexsy Durán
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