Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
RFID-Maki: Easy Payment Sushi
In Japan, eating and automation go together like, well, like raw fish and rice. At kaiten-sushi restaurants, the food is prepared expertly by chefs, then placed on a conveyor belt.
(From Kaiten-zushi Restaurant)
Customers pick what they want as it goes by. In the dim, pre-industrial past, restaurants used color-coded plates to determine the bill. A waitress would just count up the plates of each color, multiply, and present the bill.
There's a better way.
In the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo, the waitress merely waves an RFID reader over your pile of plates to prepare your bill. Each plate has an RFID tag implanted in the bottom of the plate; when scanned by the reader, the tag provides a unique number that corresponds to the price of that item.
Science fiction fans have long enjoyed automated food delivery; see the robot bar from 1965.
Read the first-person account at RFID in Japanese restaurants; thanks to Smartmobs for pointing this one out.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/12/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Food ")
NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge!
What's your favorite science fictional space food? How about your favorite REAL space food?
XROOTS eXposed Root On-Orbit Test System
'He was used to the miraculously rapid growth of plants fed with a solution of minerals, but this was too much.' - Maria Moravsky, 1940.
Stellar Pizza Is A Pizza Robot That Comes To You
'No hand touched the food...' - Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1912
Best Space Tacos Made From ISS-Grown Chilis
That's some spicy tacos.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Your Martian Dream Home, Made By Fungi
'... it was the cheapest building material known.'
The Dune Ornithopter, Movie And Book
'The wings were at full spread-rest, their delicate metal interleavings extended.'
100X Improvement In DNA Information Storage
'A record that wouldn't get lost and couldn't be destroyed.'
NASA 'Holoports' Doctor Onto Space Station
Star Trek Voyager Emergency Medical Hologram
Should We Train AIs To Imagine A Future Of Horrific Disasters
'LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.'
Mouth Haptics Invented By Frederik Pohl In 1965, CMU Now Has Prototype
'What he got was indeed a kiss. It was disconcerting. No kissing lips were visible.'
Two Towns Linked By Sculpture Portal In Real Time
'I am the Guardian of Forever.'
3D Printed Robotic Tentacles
'... articulate ropes of steel dangling'
Update: Musk Doubles Down On Optimus Prime Humanoid Robot
'I shall introduce myself. I am R. Daneel Olivaw... I am a robot. Were you not told?'
Elon Musk: Production Of Robotaxis In 2024
'How about the steering wheel... I don't need one.'
True Crime Live Podcasting In Fiction
'And loving it too, those millions. Bloodthirsty to the last one of them.'
AI Employment Decision Software Reconsidered By California Lawmakers
'They had screwed up and been blacklisted by Manna. They were back living with their parents or sleeping on the sofa with a friend.'
Six Ships Are Now Docked At The International Space Station!
It's getting crowded up there!
SUCHO Saving Ukraine's Libraries Digitally
'No human mind could ever hope to master even a small portion of what was being received every second, Sam thought, but it would all be there...'
Optimus Prime Tesla Robot Overall Humanoid Software Architecture
'I shall introduce myself. I am R. Daneel Olivaw... I am a robot. Were you not told?'
Vast Cosmic Structures And Spooky Alignments
'This postulates a force-field of partly electromagnetic character, generated by gyromagnetic action within atomic nuclei near the center of the galaxy.'
