zlacker

Former CS major, current chef/owner checking in. Restaurants feel pretty ripe for voice assistants/AR but unfortunately lack the necessary technological and financial capital to make it happen, imo. Being able to record and retrieve important information without stopping your work (pulling up and scaling a recipe while chopping onions, for example) saves an immense amount of time in the kitchen. This is especially true during a busy service when circumstances and priorities can change quickly and without warning. The need is there, my question lies in whether an industry with tight profit margins can afford to pay for such a product.

>>ohnoab+(OP)
I guess one of the main challenges is making things reliable. Voice assistants in their current form in loud, stressful environments sound like a source of endless frustration.

> The need is there, my question lies in whether an industry with tight profit margins can afford to pay for such a product.

If it actually saves time and helps fulfill orders quicker, why not?

>>ohnoab+(OP)
Not a chef or anything, but wouldn't reliability be absolutely necessary with no mistake whatsoever? I mean, when I ask alexa to play a song, and she gives me the wrong one, it's cute. If in a restaurant you order 500 kilos of flower instead of 500 kilos of flour, that's more problematic (except maybe on valentine's day). Same goes for any sort of vocal "note" you would like to make. if it has to be absolutely reliable, I gotta think that voice recognition is not there yet.

>>iraldi+T2
This is very true. To combat the problem right now, I have some of my own logic in the middle to correct common misappropriations. I also have a small HUD-like tablet that shows me whatever I'm working on so I can see that the info went in correctly. Your point is still correct: the tech isn't quite there yet to do it without these other pieces.

>>perlge+f2
This is true. I have tried wearing a mic to help with this and have seen some success.

When I say afford to pay, I'm thinking of all the development time that has to go into it to make a viable product. I do believe it is possible and honestly hope to be the person to do it. Even if I'm not, I hope someone does because there is plenty of potential beyond what I'm trying to do.

>>ohnoab+(OP)
The echo dot is an essential part of the bakery. Multiple overlapping named timers, fired off without having to touch anything? Get in!

Once I start the mixes, everything runs from paper though.

Maybe somewhere a long way down the line I’ll make an Alexa skill, but it’s not a priority.

>>pdcawl+3q
Yeah, named timers are A+ and also having basic math functions at hand is great. We have a couple different tasks that need to be started at a certain time each day, so we also have reminders that go off at said time.

>>ohnoab+or
Yeah, the calculation stuff is so handy.