Part 1. Vocabulary
|
sustainability |
/səˌstānəˈbilədē/
n - the ability
to be maintained at a certain rate or level. The
sustainability of economic growth will help the country. |
|
efficiency |
/əˈfiSHənsē/
n efficiencies (plural) - the state
or quality of being efficient, that is organized and in orderliness The greater
energy efficiency we have, the more energy we can save. |
|
compostable |
/ˈkämˌpōstəb(ə)l/
adj - of organic
matter, especially kitchen waste able to be made into fertilizer Products in
the market are now compostable and good for the environment. |
|
skyrocket |
/ˈskīˌräkət/
v - of a price,
rate, or amount increase very rapidly The cost of
housing has skyrocketed during the past 10 years. |
|
amid |
/əˈmid/
preposition - surrounded
by; in the middle of. Our dream
home, set amid magnificent rolling countryside. |
Part 2. Comprehension Questions
1.
What company is using robots and Artificial
intelligence for their dishwashers?
2.
How can these dishwashers be environmentally
friendly?
3.
What is the advantage of using robotics and Ai
for the dishwashers?
4.
How can these robotic dishwashers help during
the pandemic?
5.
When will the company expand its technology
across the country?
Part 3. Article Reading
“When you automate, you can create much better efficiencies,”
Linda Pouliot, CEO, and co-founder of Dishcraft, told Yahoo Finance. “We use
only a quarter of the water and a tenth of the power that a traditional dish
room would use. And so, it's better for the environment. And it's certainly
better for the dining experience. And it's also better for the operator.”
The Bay Area-based startup has received over $45 million in
funding so far. Pouliot said that the service works “very much like a linen
service.” Dishcraft delivers sanitized dishes each day to kitchens and picks up
used ones, which are brought to a centralized hub where they are washed by
robotic dishwashers.
“Because we're able to smartly connect devices, we're able
to use cold water, and we're able to recycle that,” Pouliot said. The company
offers a dish and reusable container service within a 25-mile radius of its
commercial dishwashing hub, which Pouliot said is “far superior to traditional
methods or to compostable single-use disposables” when it comes to
sustainability. (As part of the service, Dishcraft provides collection bins for
restaurants and cafeterias to collect the reusable containers.)
She also added that the advantage of using robotics and AI
is that it maintains a higher standard of cleanliness "so each robot can
inspect each ware 22 times. And that's very, very hard to do in a traditional
dish room.”
'The cost of compostables ... has skyrocketed'
As restaurants and cafeterias face labor shortages amid
the coronavirus pandemic, robotic dishwashers could help fill some of those
vacancies.
For food-services operations that use a traditional dish
room, “we can offer up to 24% savings,” Pouliot said. “And then in an operation
that is using compostables or single-use disposable wares and wants to switch
to a reusable service, we are equal or even up to 35% savings because, as you
know, right now, the cost of compostables, because of supply chain issues, has
skyrocketed.”
As restaurants continue to recover from the pandemic,
Dishcraft is looking to bring its robotic dishwashing technology to scale.
“Today we're in the Bay Area, and we're rapidly expanding
here,” Pouliot said. “And in 2022, we are going to across the country. We have
two cities that we plan to open in Q1, but more on that later.”
Source: Grace O'Donnell, Fri, 17
September 2021, https://ph.news.yahoo.com/