Innovation: 'Mozo' the robot takes orders and serve food in Cairo restaurant

Cairo, Egypt: As Egypt loosens coronavirus restrictions, one restaurant decided to let robot wait its tables in a bid to attract customers who wish to limit human interaction.

Adorned with its own name tag, tie and apron, the robot named "Mozo", which means waiter in Spanish, is programmed to take orders and deliver meals to tables. "Mozo" works in tandem with the restaurant's human staff, whose role is now limited to entering a passcode to confirm each table's order and then place the food platters on the robot's specially designed trays. Launched at Kimbo Restaurant & Cafe in Cairo on July 14, "Mozo" is the only robot in Egypt waiting tables so far.

"When the problem of the coronavirus began in Egypt, Egyptian culture started thinking more about social distancing," said Aladdin Al-Howainy, from MARSES Robotic Solutions, the Egyptian company that developed "Mozo". He added that the robot was designed to look as friendly as possible to Egyptians not used to being around a moving robot.

"Everyone is afraid", said Dana Mohamed, a customer being waited on by the robot. "(It helps) people who are afraid that someone else might touch their food before they do." Egypt has allowed cafes and restaurants to return to work after the coronavirus measures were lifted, under the condition that they close at midnight and limit their capacity to 50%.

The North African country has been reporting dwindling numbers of coronavirus cases, the latest being less than 200 cases a day. In total, Egypt has recorded 94,483 cases, and 4,865 deaths.