Have been served coffee by a robot? You have? Ok, but wait, has that robot been built to look like an Eastern European model? No? Great! Now is your chance to cross that one off your bucket list.
Donna Cyber Café, which is planning to open in Dubai in 2023, is the city’s ‘first supermodel robot café’, as it’s being dubbed by our colleagues over at Arabian Business, where its cashier is a lifelike recreation of model Diana Gabdullina, who was a beauty contest winner in 2014.
According to The Mirror, Gabdullina is the wife of the owner of the company who made the robot, Rashid Gabdullin.
Inside Dubai’s new robot cafe
The Donna in the title will be the name of the cashier, but there are others. Another lookalike modeled after Diana named Dunyasha was used at the Russian economic forum in St. Petersburg last June. There are apparently 20 others like her, all modeled after Gabdullina.
Donna’s components come from Russia, and her creators have said she has an ‘easygoing, feminine’ personality that can be a ‘little ironic’ while also being ‘a responsible employee of the cyber café.
The robot model can serve coffee, hold conversations with customers and even tell stories. It will also reportedly have the ability to detect the emotions of customers—as well as remembering customers in repeat visits, storing information it takes in and being able to repeat it back.
Made by RDI Robotics, the robot known as Robo-C2 (perhaps in need of a rebrand?) is made with silicone skin and realistic eyes.
It has already gone viral on TikTok when the cashier popped up at events, but this looks to be her first permanent home—so expect much more debate to come.
Watch Dunyasha, Donna’s sister (?), in action below.
While we don’t yet know the exact location of the Donna Cyber Café, it will reportedly be open 24/7 as androids don’t need to sleep, and also have self-serve ice cream.
The café is generating debate online, according to the Daily Mail, quoting commenters on the videos of the café, including one person who chimed in ‘No thank you, we have humans who need work,” while another said, “I want a person and if I walk into a place and a robot is serving, I am out of that door.’
According to the report, there will actually be multiple Donna cafes opening in Dubai in 2023 with android cashiers, so keep an eye out.