万花筒 2009-08-13&08-014 拉面机器人（在线收听）

Japan's obsession with the machines has gone one step further with this creation - a ramen noodle robot chef. At the Fuamen Ramen Noodle shop in the central Japanese city of Nagoya, two robotic arms are busy serving their hungry customers, doling out nearly 80 bowls of noodles on a busy day. Kenji Nagoya, the owner of the noodle shop and a robot manufacturer, says nobody gets it as accurate as the robots.

"The benefits of using robots as Ramen chefs include the accuracy of timing in boiling noodles, precise movements in adding toppings and consistency in the taste."

Nagoya's robot factory opened the noodle shop less than a month ago to showcase its latest robotic technology. The noodle shop which sells a regular noodle bowl with a pork broth-based soup for seven dollars is yet to make profit, partly due to the large investment in the research and development of the robotic arms. But the restaurant is definitely getting a lot of attention and building its reputation. Customers say the noodles taste as good as those made by humans.

"I don't feel any difference in taste between this ramen and those cooked by human chef."

Humans are not completely out of the equation and do have to step in occasionally to prepare the soup stock, take orders and receive money. But the robot arms will take care of the rest. The machines are pre-programmed to boil noodles, pour the soup into bowls and sprinkle toppings. Customers get to watch the whole process of the automated ramen making which takes one minute and forty seconds per bowl. During downtime the robots entertain customers by demonstrating various tricks.

Puja Bharwani, Reuters.