The other night I found myself waiting for a table at the wonderful Cay Tre Vietnamese restaurant in Old Street.

We were a party of four people waiting for a table (getting hungrier and hungrier, surrounded by mouthwatering smells) and had to wait for a party of four to leave. While we waited, pairs of seats became available, but as they were separated from each other, we couldn't take them.

Hence the idea of the Self-Rearranging Restaurant.

How it works : a 'block' consisting of a table big enough for two, and two seats/stools on opposite sides of the table, is mounted on motorised wheels. These allow the whole block to be moved gently (by radio control) in two axes (north/south or east/west) without rotating.

When a block becomes free, it sinks down through the floor (did I not mention all blocks are on hydraulic lifts ? How remiss of me) and the other blocks move to fill the gap. Blocks can be 'yoked' together so they move as a group, thus keeping larger parties together.

Larger parties can therefore be seated as soon as enough blocks become available. Blocks can be cleaned on the lower floor (by a genetically engineered race of subhumans called the Morlocks, perhaps) so they rise up again perfectly clean.

It might be fun for the diners too.
-- bumhat, Dec 14 2007

How about a bunch of single-person table-and-chair combos, kind of like children's school desks? Mount those on caster wheels, put latches on the front and sides for docking, and Bob's your uncle.

You could wheel individual units off for cleaning, even sterilizing. The Morlocks could be moved up a floor (or even into the meat locker, if you choose to automate).
-- baconbrain, Dec 14 2007


morlocks need jobs too !
-- bumhat, Dec 14 2007


<Wonders whether to point out the intended cannibalistic entrée entendre, decides to slink away.>
-- baconbrain, Dec 14 2007



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