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The world may be progressing faster than we think, as replacing human labour with machines and artificial intelligence becomes a familiar concept. One hawker stall in Margaret Drive Hawker Centre is proof, Wok A.I. which sells Hokkien mee fried by robots.
Wok A.I. uses a S$14,000 robot to cook its signature Hokkien mee (S$5.50 for regular, S$7 for large), using a recipe from the founder’s family.
The cooking process is relatively simple. Ingredients such as noodles, egg, prawns and pork belly are poured into the machine, which uses a rotating arm to stir-fry the dish.
The business was opened in October by former engineer Ang Chip Hong. The 53-year-old has always had a passion for food and has invested in local F&B businesses prior to this, too.
In recent years, he noticed how our hawker culture seems to be dying with fewer young people willing to enter the trade. Meanwhile, older hawkers find themselves shutting down their businesses without any successors to take over.
Additionally, human effort is limited. One person can only do so much before fatigue kicks in and quality starts to drop.
Where do the robots come in? Hong’s friend in China introduced him to machines that could fry rice. Inspired, he imported a robot and the rest is Wok A.I. history.
With this move, he hopes to help preserve hawker culture and reduce the heavy workload.
Reviews have pointed out the noticeable lack of smoky wok hei, characteristic of stir-fried Chinese food, in the robot’s Hokkien mee. There has been debate on the loss of “human touch”, with many commenting that it did not taste as good.
However, certain processes, such as de-shelling prawns, still have to be done by hand. Hong also strives for improvement and hopes to continue upgrading the machine to serve him better.
Is the era of human hawkers coming to an end? Not quite, but perhaps we’ll be seeing more robots helping us out in years to come, just as Wok A.I. has done.
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