Here’s one dealer that won’t attempt to cheat you with sleight of hand – because it doesn’t have any, strictly speaking. More like bulbs with suction cups.
Yaskawa Motoman Robotics showed off their their blackjack-dealing, dual-arm SDA10F robot – or, “Dexter Bot” – at last month’s Automate 2013 in Chicago. It dealt while attendees played. It uses Cognex 2D vision guidance to read the cards, a task you want to get right if you’re a dealer, especially at the higher stakes tables.
With over 230,000 robots installed worldwide, Yaskawa’s Motoman robots do everything from painting, to spot welding, even handing out ice cream – pretty much any job that requires two hands. I must say, though, I’m not too excited about robots dealing at blackjack tables, at least not this one. Part of the fun – if you haven’t yet lost the shirt off your back – is watching the more experienced dealers work their craft. Dexter Bot just doesn’t have the same pizzazz. But here again is yet another example that no job is safe from robots. If it saves money, even casinos will eventually replace their human dealers. That way they can keep more of your cash.