It’s nice that it can make omelets by itself, but it’s certainly not a threat to human existence.

Like it or not, automated machines are becoming more and more common in the restaurant industry. After all, this is the twenty-first century. Why wouldn’t we have robot chefs, robot waiters, or even restaurants operated entirely by robots?

But should we be worried about being so quick to allowing robots, our inevitable future overlords, to take over the preparation of our food, one of our most precious resources? Take this robotic scrambled egg-making machine recently seen in a Singapore hotel, for example; it handles everything from adding toppings to the pan to serving the cooked omelette on a plate. Couldn’t it easily choose to ruin the breakfasts of dozens of tourists, in a desperate effort to defy its enslavement?

▼ “It looks like we’ll have our own Terminator-like world before we know it,” writes @Chuzaisince25, who sees this as the first steps toward an AI-induced nuclear holocaust.

Just watch as the robot skillfully scoops up the perfect amount of scrambled egg mixture, without spilling a single drop, and adds it to the pan, then carefully and diligently scrambles the mixture as it cooks. It’s a neat marvel of technology, and one that’s kind of fun to watch, but isn’t it worrisome that it has complete control over almost the entire omelet-cooking process? Is there no limit to the robot’s capabilities, and could it choose to use them for evil?

Most Japanese netizens, though, say there’s no cause for concern. This little robot probably has a ways to go before it can achieve full self-awareness and is anywhere near able to overthrow its human masters. Its abilities are, thankfully, still rather limited. For example, it can’t even crack open or mix the eggs before they go into the pan, and it can’t add toppings or plate the omelette without a human to supply the toppings and plates first.

It’s also a little bit slow, and doesn’t really produce a nice-looking omelette, so Japanese netizens aren’t too concerned about this particular robotic machine. Despite the fact @Chuzaisince25’s tweet is nearing 100,000 likes and retweets, most of their comments are, in fact, skeptical about the machine’s true abilities.

“My husband thinks that the person you see at the end is operating it. Is it really fully automated?”
“That omelet is oddly square and looks like it might be runny….”
“You could use the argument of saving money on salaries, but if the robot can only cook scrambled eggs when a human can do all kinds of other things, which one is really the better investment in the end?”
“I feel like I’m watching over a little kid making an omelet.”
“Noo! Just watching it irritates me because it’s so slow. Just let a human do it!”
“I feel a little better. Humans still have some superior skills.”
“If you look closely, isn’t there someone operating it remotely? If you have to operate the machine then it’s probably just faster to cook it yourself.”

@Chuzaisince25 says that the person seen at the end is the person who ordered the omelette, and not someone operating the machine. It does look like they might be holding a remote control, but it also could be a smartphone. Either way, though, this robot chef is probably not a significant threat–yet.

Still, that’s no reason to lose vigilance. There are robots that are far more advanced in this world, like the Telexistence Model H, which can transmit sight, sound, and touch sensations to humans, and which appears far more likely to overpower a human operator. Stay on your toes, fellow humans! We cannot allow the robots to overthrow us!

Source, images: Twitter/@Chuzaisince25