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Another robotic frontier: Fast food


by
08 October 2012



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They can’t build the machines fast enough to satisfy the demand, particularly from Italian end-users. A1 Concepts Let’s Pizza machines are in Europe and soon will be coming to the US. The devices don’t just reheat frozen pizzas; they create an authentic 10.5″ pizza, made from scratch with fresh ingredients in less than 2-1/2 minutes. The machine mixes dough, rolls it out, adds toppings, cooks the pie and then dispenses it in a take-away box… all in less than 3 minutes!

Cupcake
Cupcake ATMs from Sprinkles Cupcakes have been running so smooth that the ATM cupcake machine will be expanding to other locations. There was a bigger line outside the Beverly Hills store to try the ATM cupcake machine than going inside and buying in-store.

Robotic frozen yogurt and ice cream kiosks are beginning to populate malls, student unions and various public facilities. Robofusion, a South Carolina interactive kiosks manufacturer, has partnered with Sodexo, a large provider of integrated food and facilities management services, to provide Reis & Irvy’s frozen yogurt kiosks in various malls and public places including The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

On the horizon are restaurants with iPad/tablet menues and robotic servers — there are already experiments like this going on in China — and noodle cutting, falafel cutting and sushi roll rolling and cutting machines.

Common to all these new devices are simple-to-use order entry and payment screens, the acceptance of currency, coins and credit cards, and the “watch factor,” i.e., the ability to see what’s going on inside the machine.

Hungry?

 




Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





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