U.S.A. April 3, 2023 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7 Waiter on wheels: Robot serves Japanese restaurant customers By Clara Niel The Frederick News-Post REDERICK, Md. (AP) — While the thought of a robot delivering food and drink at a restaurant may hearken images straight out of a Star Wars cantina, the droid helping wait tables at one Frederick eatery is less R2-D2 than a souped-up iPad on wheels. Sapporo II Japanese Restaurant at 5 W. Church St. in downtown Frederick welcomed a new employee several weeks ago — a robot waiter. It rolls around the restaurant, with a screen displaying a cheerful cartoon face and a little chef hat. Under the screen are three levels of trays. When it’s not working, it rests by the wall and charges. The $25,000 robot can sing customers “Happy Birthday” or a festive Christmas tune. It can dance and use different voices. The restaurant staff is trying to see if they can give the robot a British accent, said Uriel Cuevas, head server at Sapporo II. With its three trays, the robot can carry a lot of orders. Cuevas said that for a small serving staff, the robot — whose name is pending — is helpful when the restaurant gets busy. “Let’s say there’s like five soups back there, and other servers at tables are attending, taking orders, socializing. We would have the robot, of course,” Cuevas said. And people can only carry so many plates, he said, while the robot can carry as many plates as will fit on its three trays. The robot isn’t meant to replace the staff, Cuevas said, but rather help with the workflow of the restaurant. Currently, the F robot is in its “infant” stage, Cuevas said. The robot does not take customers’ orders. It can only be programmed to bring people dishes or help bring dishes back to the kitchen. “It helps from the kitchen being clogged up in the back with there being an immense amount of plates. It relieves the pressure of that,” he said. Customers can’t interact with it yet, but Cuevas said the restaurant is hoping to change that. He and Sapporo II owner Chris Song want the robot to be able to communicate with customers if they have questions about the menu, like if a certain dish is gluten free or has allergens. Song said its most useful feature now is to help servers clear tables. One server might have to make multiple ROBOTIC BUSSER. A robot waiter delivers glasses of water to Cory Perdue, left, and Julia Perdue at Sapporo II Japanese Restaurant in Frederick, Mary- land, on March 15, 2023. The restaurant recently wel- comed a new employee — a robot waiter. (Katina Zentz/The Frederick News-Post via AP) trips to clear a table. With the robot, a server can pile plates, silverware, and glasses on the robot’s trays and send it back to the kitchen while they focus on other tasks. Kadin Wetherholt, a server at Sapporo II since September, confirmed that the robot is helpful to clean tables. It also saves him from awkwardly singing “Happy Birthday” to customers. It’s cool, he said, but he wasn’t a big fan of the robot when it first came to the restaurant. He’s still trying to warm up to it. “I’m really old fashioned, so I’m like pen and paper. I just like walking to my tables,” he said. “I was just like, ‘Wow, like the times have really changed.’” Most customers love it, and whip out their phones to take a video of it as it cruises by their tables, Cuevas said. Other people who don’t like technology are a little afraid of it, but he tells them not to worry. Autism now more common among children of color in U.S. By Mike Stobbe AP Medical Writer EW YORK — For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among all U.S. 8-year-olds, 1 in 36 had autism in 2020, the CDC estimated. That’s up from 1 in 44 two years earlier. N But the rate rose faster for children of color than for white kids. The new estimates suggest that about 3% of Black, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander children have an autism diagnosis, compared with about 2% of white kids. That’s a contrast to the past, when autism was most commonly diagnosed in white kids — usually in middle- or upper-income families with the means to go to autism specialists. As recently as 2010, white kids were deemed 30% more likely to be diagnosed with autism than Black children and 50% more likely than Hispanic children. Experts attributed the change to improved screening and autism services for all kids, and to increased awareness and advocacy for Black and Hispanic families. The increase is from “this rush to catch up,” said David Mandell, a University of Pennsylvania psychiatry professor. Continued on page 9 Questions about your healthcare? e? Find us in your neighborhood. APRIL 4 APRIL 12 Resource Center 9-11 a.m. 650 NW Irving St, Portland River District Navigation Center (for residents only) 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. 1111 NW Naito Pkwy, Portland Jean’s Place (for residents only) 1:30-3:30 p.m. 18 NE 11th Ave, Portland The Rosewood Initiative 1-4 p.m. 14127 SE Stark St, Portland APRIL 6 Street Roots 9-10:30 a.m. 211 NW Davis St, Portland Cultivate Initiatives 11-2 p.m. 660 SE 160th Ave, Portland Nightstrike 7:30-9:30 p.m. Under the Burnside Bridge APRIL 10 Clark Center (for residents only) 9-11 a.m. 1437 SE MLK Blvd, Portland Doreen’s Place (for residents only) 12-2 p.m. 610 NW Broadway St, Portland APRIL 11 careoregon.org/connect-to-care Cultivate Initiatives 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 247 SE 82nd Ave, Portland Union Gospel Mission 2-3 p.m. 3 NW 3rd Ave, Portland APRIL 17 Cultivate Initiatives 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lents Park, 4707 SE 92nd Ave, Portland APRIL 20 Street Roots 9-10:30 a.m. 211 NW Davis St, Portland Cultivate Initiatives 11-2 p.m. 660 SE 160th Ave, Portland Nightstrike 7:30-9:30 p.m. Under the Burnside Bridge APRIL 22 Love Your Neighbor 12-2 p.m. 526 SE Grand Ave, Portland APRIL 24 Clark Center (for residents only) 9-11 a.m. 1437 SE MLK Blvd, Portland Doreen’s Place (for residents only) 12-2 p.m. 610 NW Broadway St, Portland connect to care