KFC-lovers might need to prepare for a new way of ordering their favorite chicken meal after KFC in China partnered up with China's search giant "Baidu" -- and it involves age, gender, and facial expression.
According to Techcrunch, a new KFC branch in Beijing is trying out Baidu's new "smart restaurant" tech, using facial recognition and other factors like age, gender, and facial expression to help make recommendations on what meal to order. Only one KFC branch in Beijing has the "smart restaurant" technology, so it's still in its prototype and trial phase-- whether the technology will be applied elsewhere in china or even outside the country is still unknown.
Smart Restaurant suggests order based on yr facial features. Errr, its KFC-so either way u end up with fried chicken https://t.co/ZeTKQOAtqX pic.twitter.com/mnJdViVGre
— Rajiv Makhni (@RajivMakhni) December 26, 2016
The "smart restaurant" technology works by scanning the customer's face and checking their mood. Other information like age and gender will be guessed by the computer in order for it to make a meal recommendation. The computer also has a built-in facial recognition, so returning customers will be remembered and favorite meals or past orders will be recommended by the computer.
Other than the facial recognition and "Smart Restaurant" technology, the restaurant also has augmented reality games in the form of table stickers, which is also available in many other KFC branches in Beijing. In Shanghai, KFC and Baidu also worked on another tech project together: a robot customer service agent with the ability to recognize orders through natural language input.
China isn't the only place where KFC tried to innovate its dining experience. According to Engadget, KFC introduced a "tray typer" in Germany -- a reusable keyboard as thin as the paper inserts that comes with the foot tray. The keyboard connects to the customer's phone via Bluetooth and allows the user to continue using their phone even with greasy fingers.
Unfortunately, the reusable keyboard became so popular in Germany that during the promotion period, all the reusable keyboards were snagged and taken home by customers. looks like KFC won't be bringing out that promotion again.
