A viral video trend in Japan has got sushi conveyor-belt restaurants racing to prevent food tampering. One chain, Kura Sushi, said it will use artificial intelligence to look for “suspicious opening and closing of sushi plate covers,” Nikkei Asia reported this week.
Kura Sushi plans to start upgrading existing cameras, which are used to track the dishes customers take from conveyor belts to determine their bill, by early March. If the system detects suspicious behavior, it will alert employees.
“We want to deploy our AI-operated cameras to monitor if customers put the sushi they picked up with their hands back on the plates,” a spokesman told CNN. “We are confident we will be able to upgrade the systems we already have in place to deal with these kind of behaviors.”
Many folks in Japan have been outraged by a trend dubbed “sushi terrorism.” Videos have shown people carrying out unhygienic acts, such as licking the spoon for a container of green tea powder. Other videos have…
2023-02-10 15:48:20
Post from www.engadget.com
Technology has been used to combat a range of issues on a global scale, and now, it appears a Japanese conveyor-belt restaurant is utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) cameras to tackle a problem that has only recently become widespread – “sushi terrorism.”
Sushi terrorism, an act of switching empty sushi dishes with full dishes to overcharge customers, has increasingly been seen in sushi restaurants across the country, including chain restaurants. To combat this phenomenon, an AI camera developed by a Japanese manufacturer has been installed in an undisclosed conveyor-belt restaurant.
According to the manufacturer, the AI camera is capable of counting the number of plates on the conveyor belt and thereby ensure that the actual number given at the checkout counter will match the number of dishes the customer took.
The camera utilizes an advanced image processing technology and gesture recognition techniques, allowing it to accurately detect the number of dishes taken from the conveyor belt. It has also proven to be effective in distinguishing empty and full plates of sushi, as it can detect the color and shape of the dishes.
The manufacturer claims that the AI camera will enable sushi restaurants to reduce the risk of sushi terrorism and maintain the accuracy of their records. Furthermore, the introduction of the camera is expected to increase customer satisfaction, as customers will no longer receive incorrect bills.
As the use of technology continues to grow in the restaurant industry, it appears that AI cameras may become a crucial tool for preventing instances of dishonest behavior in sushi restaurants.