'Robo chefs' dish up the perfect solution

A robot stir-fries a dish at a restaurant in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Under the "Made in China 2025" national plan, which is designed to turn the country into a high-tech manufacturing powerhouse, the automated machines industry has expanded quickly.

For innovators such as Liu, this has been great news after working in the sector for 28 years. Previously, he was involved in the development of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

But his life really changed in 2008 when he came up with the "robotic chef" idea. He even opened up his first restaurant with an automated cook in Harbin in 2012.

"Back then, one of my friends who owned a restaurant said it was difficult for him to hire qualified staff and keep them, due to high labor costs," he recalled. "I started to consider if I could create a 'robot cook' that would be able to do simple, repetitive kitchen jobs."

It was a moment of inspiration and it paid off. In the past three years, Haiying Robot Manufacturing has taken off with a steady stream of orders from restaurants across China.

"So far, I have sold robot chefs to more than 60 restaurants nationwide, including areas in western China, such as Gansu and Ningxia Hui autonomous region," Liu said. "The laborsaving devices are designed to speak different dialects and cook local cuisines to cater for various regions."

But Liu has not stopped there. His company plans to roll out "robo waiters", which cost 40,000 yuan each. They usually have a "working life span" of about eight to 10 years. "They are built to last," he said.

Next year, he plans to manufacture between 6,000 to 8,000 robots annually, worth more than 100 million yuan, although he has yet to disclose detailed financial figures for the company.

Other projects include turning out "family robot chefs" for consumers in the near future, as well as launching a central processing factory to produce processed food materials for supermarket chains. These products can then be popped into the oven by robot chef.

Still, Haiying Robot Manufacturing will have to stay on its toes as the competition is fierce.

Discoverer Robot Co Ltd is based in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, and was founded in 2012. It now sells a few hundred robotic chefs a year to college cafeterias, companies and the People's Liberation Army.

"There is a huge market potential for robot chefs at home and abroad," Ge Wenhua, chairman of Discoverer, said. "Many senior citizens are in a bad health and can't cook, while the younger generation don't know how to cook. They will all need robot chefs."

Cost-saving is also a major incentive for cafeterias and companies looking to buy Discoverer's automated chefs.