Robot Gif Animation: Source Giphy
The rise of robotics in restaurants is on the rise. Robots chefs perform different functions to give human chefs more time for creative work. Robot chefs flip steaks, fry food, make drinks, cook hamburgers and automate repetitive tasks. Some robots chefs brew coffee, cook a variety of recipes, make pizza, create cocktails for customers, whip up smoothies and juices, cook buffalo wings, and create baked goods.
Robot chefs can be a mechanical arm that can be programmed to perform certain functions or an entire smart kitchen that can prepare recipes ready to serve. Robot chefs have sensors, cameras and enhanced AI capabilities designed to cook food. Some robotic chefs are arms fitted along a track in a kitchen and can glide along performing different tasks.
With the storage of data the robot chef is able to teach itself new skills like humans. It can find ingredients, adjust to different types of cuisine, and adapt to customer needs. Some can even cook 10 different types of cuisines with precision due to machine learning.
Benefits of Automated Robot Chefs
Robot Chef Source: Flicker/ Steve Miller
Robot chefs perform task consistently an important part of cooking a recipe
They reduce the risk of contamination from humans handling food
Robot chefs help with labor shortages and lack of staff to perform the work
Robot chefs do free up chefs to do more creative work
A robot chef cuts the costs of hiring people to do the work
These machines fill a void in the restaurant industry and eliminate the need to hire cooks, kitchen assistants, and can use one person to complete complex tasks.
Limitations of Robot Chefs
Animation Source: Giphy
The robot chefs are expensive to install and maintain
Some work with automated robotic kitchens and have many components to consider
Robot chefs need maintenance, repair, and updates
Robots are limited in their creativity and finding solutions to complex problem even with AI
Robot chefs do not add the personal touch that human chefs and wait staff bring to a restaurant.
They will not replace real chefs that create recipes and plan customized meals for customers
Humans provide better customer service solutions to problems that arise.
More About Robot Chefs
One robot chef arm designed can taste the salt in food and tell if there is too much or not enough. It can recognize ingredients needed for a recipe and how to cook the dish. Some robots chefs are very fast and can produce food for a large group of people.
Hamburger Robot Chef Source: Singularity Hub
Cali Express in California uses a robot chef to grill and fry food. It works by using AI and robotics. It prepares the burger and cheeseburgers using a blend of Wagyu beef. It is a fast-food restaurant, and this helps them keep up with the amount of demand for their burgers.
E Vino Spaghetti in Japan has an automated robot pasta chef developed by Pronto Corporation and Tech Magic a Toyko based company. It can prepare pasta dishes in 45 seconds using a custom-made frying pan with high heat induction. This robot chef boils pre-cooked noodles, adds sauce and seasoning to this customized frying pan, and uses a precise spinning motion. The restaurant workers add the final touches to the dish when serving the pasta. This robot chef makes 90 meals per minute, defrosts the frozen pasta, and self-cleans the pan.
Sweetgreen is a restaurant located in several states in the United States. They use a robot chef that makes salad in their Infinite kitchen. The robot chef chops vegetables in perfect portions into bowls on the assembly line and reduces time customers must wait. Human chefs marinate and cook the meats poultry and seafood, cook vegetables, and make sauces and dressings for their salads and bowls.
The Wilkison Baking Company has and automated baking robot or bread bot that works like a entire bakery. The robot chef mixes ingredients, blends, prepares the dough and bakes the loaves of bread. It prepares freshly baked bread. It is used in many supermarket bakery departments.
Pizza Robot Chef Cutting and Boxing Pizza Source: Sarunblog Intatosum
The Picnic Pizza Station a robot chef sets up an assembly line that allows one person to prepare about 100 pizzas in an hour. It adds the precise amount of cheese and toppings for the worker to add to each pizza . The restaurant worker mixes the dough and rolls out the pizza. The robot chef provides cheese and topping to add to each individual pie.
Pizzaiola is an automated pizza chef for restaurants that selects and presses the dough and adds the right toppings needed. It is fully automated and slices and even boxes the pizza. It is expensive and can be rented monthly. This automated pizza station can cook about 50 pizzas per hour without any staff assisting.
Robot Chefs in restaurants help with repetitive tasks, make fast food, add to restaurant efficiency, and save money on hiring staff. The AI robot chef for some restaurants will be a dream come true. They will not likely replace human chefs that love to cook and wait staff that add a personal touch to restaurants. Robot chefs cannot replace the emotion and excitement that real chefs bring to the table when they create new items and cook.
When you watch cooking shows on TV the chefs bring excitement and enthusiasm to the meal. A robot cannot duplicate this in a restaurant or on a cooking show. A real chef in a restaurant will bring more to the table than a robot chef. I do not think they can replace human chefs but will be part of the industry.
Robot Chef Makes Omelets Source: Cam AC UK
Robot Chef for Your Home Kitchen Source; Robb Report
References
AI Robots, The Future of Cooking, by Jude Chukwodozie, December 5, 2022, IOT For All
The Rise of Restaurant Robotics In the Food Industry, SavorEat Blog, Spetember 11, 2022
The Robot Chef Has An Electric Tongue to Taste Your Food, Kayla Dube, Slash Gear, October 4, 2022
Automonous Restaurants: The Rise of Smart Restaurant by Nick Mirev, Blue Cart
Here Are Five Global Restaurants Staffed by Robot Chefs, by Daphne Ewing Chow, Forbes, March 2024
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