Robots are serving food to diners at Tamworth's Centillion Chinese Restaurant.

The 'Bella Bots' help existing employees to focus on providing a better level of customer service, manager Jacky Ye said.

"I suppose the main reason for us is that it's a bit of a fresh idea that Tamworth doesn't have yet," he said.

"We might as well be the first one to jump on board and try it out."

They might be doing the job of the wait staff, but the new employees aren't a threat to existing workers, Mr Ye said.

"The robot isn't advanced enough to take over that side of items yet," he said.

"It literally only helps by running the dishes from the kitchen to the front of the house, so we don't have to waste our power.

"It's one way of just making us more efficient by not walking that blank space in the middle between the customer and the kitchen."

A map of the restaurant is programmed into the bots, with QR codes on the ceiling to guide them.

Each table has to be programmed manually, which meant the initial setup took about six hours.

The response from community has been amazing, Mr Ye said.

"You have quite a few reservations that come in like, 'is the robot working tonight?'" he said.

"Even the older generations, they're like, 'I'm going to bring my grandkids in to show them and they will absolutely love it'."

And for the slightly nervous, there need not be any fear about robots turning violent or deadly, Mr Ye said.

They have - "no external limbs that you can crush people with," he said.

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