The retail industry, especially quick-service restaurant startups, is using NVIDIA AI and robotics technology to make it easier to order food at the drive-thru, find drinks on store shelves, and deliver meals. I’m here. NVIDIA Inception is a program that provides go-to-market support, expertise, and technology for cutting-edge startups.
For eye candy, an artist recreated a ramen restaurant using the NVIDIA Omniverse platform to create and operate a metaverse application.
Toronto startup HuEx is developing a conversational AI assistant to process order requests in drive-thru speaker boxes. A real-time voice service running on the NVIDIA Jetson edge AI platform converts voice orders to text for her members of staff to respond to.
The technology integrates with existing drive-thru headset systems, allowing team members to hear orders and jump in for assistance if needed. This is a pilot test to help support services on Canada’s popular fast service chain.
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San Diego-based startup Vistry is using an AI-enabled automated ordering solution to tackle the growing labor shortage at quick-service restaurants. Built on the NVIDIA Riva software development kit, the system uses natural language processing to understand and speak menus, plus a recommendation system for faster, more accurate order taking and more relevant, personalized customer service. Enable offers.
Vistry is also using the NVIDIA Metropolis application framework to create computer vision applications that help automate curbside check-ins, speed up drive-thru, and predict how long it will take to prepare customer orders. Its tools are powered by NVIDIA Jetson and NVIDIA A2 Tensor Core GPUs.
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Oakland-based startup Cartken is deploying NVIDIA Jetson-enabled sidewalk robots for last-mile delivery of coffee and meals. The company’s autonomous mobile robot technology has been used to deliver his Grubhub orders to students at the University of Arizona and Ohio State University, while a mall in Japan delivers Starbucks merchandise.
The Inception member utilizes NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin modules to run 6 cameras and perform localization and mapping, navigation and wheel odometry simultaneously.
![TX SCARA robot refills drinks](https://blogs.nvidia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TX-SCARA-at-FamilyMart-METI-Store-400x213.jpg)
Tokyo-based Inception startup Telexistence is deploying hundreds of NVIDIA AI-powered robots to restock the shelves of Japan’s leading convenience store chain, FamilyMart. Robots handle repetitive tasks such as refilling beverage displays, allowing retail staff to interact with customers.
For AI model training, the team utilized an NVIDIA DGX system. The robot uses NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier for AI processing at the edge and NVIDIA Jetson TX2 modules for sending video streaming data.
NVIDIA technology doesn’t just accelerate food-related applications for the restaurant industry. We’re also enhancing mouth-watering virtual scenes with mouth-watering zero-calorie dishes.
Twenty NVIDIA artists and freelancers from around the world showcased the power of NVIDIA Omniverse with a deliciously detailed recreation of a ramen shop in Tokyo. This includes hotpot noodles, steamed dumplings, bottled beverages, and more.
Created to highlight real-time rendering and physics simulation capabilities powered by NVIDIA RTX, the scene consists of over 22 million triangles, 350 unique texture models, and 3,000 4K resolution texture maps.