Creator’s transparent burger robot doesn’t grind your brisket and chuck steak into a gourmet patty until you order it.
When I ask how a startup launching one eatery at a time could become a $10 billion company, Creator co-founder and CEO Alex Vardakostas looks me dead in the eye and says, “the market is much bigger than that.”
Eventually, an app will let people customize the exact ratios of all the ingredients, unlocking near infinite permutations.
“This is the kind of burger you would get for $12 to $18 [at an upscale restaurant], and it’s $6,”
the best at that price. A lot of that comes from the savings on labor and kitchen space afforded by a robot cook. “We spend more on our ingredients than any other burger restaurant.”
The pizza kitchen with the Pizza Rax logo features two Universal Robotics robots and robotic robots from Robotiq. They are used to fill pizza, to bake and to give to the customer.
Another Pizza robot project is not going too well..
Natasha Mascarenhas / Crunchbase News:
Report: pizza-making robot startup Zume, which raised $375M from SoftBank Vision Fund in 2018, plans to lay off up to 400 staff, or about 80% of its employees — In a little over a year, pizza-making robot startup Zume has gone from getting $375 million from SoftBank, to pivoting …
Zume pulled the plug on its robotic pizza wing earlier this year. A lot goes into making a decision like that — particularly for a company whose robotic dreams were a press darling for a while there. But its own inabilities to get the math right shouldn’t necessarily be taken as an indication of a lack of interest in food automation.
Of course, until another startup fully demonstrates that potential, the Zume story will almost invariably be a preamble for any other company looking to automate the process of pizza making.XRobotics, which launches today, is looking to play a role in helping to change that narrative with a new device designed to replace the traditional pizza make lines.
the lack of workers is forcing some restaurant owners to get creative, like Andrew Yoa, owner of Island Grill Seafood and Steakhouse in Ocean City.
Yoa said before the pandemic, the restaurant had a staff of 87 serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. After serving only takeout in 2020, the restaurant is now short 65 employees. It is also closed for breakfast and lunch.
“I’m feeling very happy that we have the kitchen staff to be able to produce the food, now we just had to come up with an idea: how do we get it out to our customers?” said Yoa.
He leased a robot named “Peanut” to help employees.
Ever since Americans were introduced to Rosie, the beloved robot maid on The Jetsons, way back in the 1960s, robotic household help has been the ultimate in futuristic dream products.
You’d think new technology would work hard at making you feel welcome at the drive-thru. Not necessarily. And now, oh, a McDonald’s customer is suing the company for alleged breach of privacy laws. Yes, at the robot drive-thru.
So when McDonald’s revealed it was testing the idea of replacing humans at the drive-thru with robots, I was filled with cautious optimism.
Would customers be greeted with a surprisingly chirpy voice, redolent of a young person who really enjoys high school?
Sadly, I haven’t been near Chicago lately and that’s where the burger chain is testing this as yet imperfect system — McDonald’s confesses the robot only grasps your order 85% of the time.
Before the pandemic started (ah, those glorious days…) a collective panic was mounting over automation and robots gradually replacing workers in various fields, or “stealing our jobs,” as the common refrain went. These worries haven’t subsided two years later, but they’re being countered by severe and largely unexpected labor shortages across multiple sectors of the economy. One of the industries that’s struggling most is restaurants. While we may still encounter automation-related unemployment problems down the road, right now it seems robots are lending a much-needed hand in food service.
We’re big fans of useless machines here at Hackaday, there’s something undeniably entertaining about watching a gadget flail about dramatically without actually making any progress towards a defined goal. But what happens when one of these meme machines ends up working too well? We think that’s just what we might be witnessing here with the Tacobot from [Vije Miller].
If you’ve ever been at an eatery and thought the server was a bit robotic, you should try San Francisco’s Mezli. The restaurant claims to be the first one to be totally automated. There are no humans in there. The restaurant serves Mediterranean grain bowls. Honestly, it is hard to decide if Mezli is a restaurant or a very sophisticated vending machine.
Then again, that makes sense. Only in science fiction do you have androids flying spaceships. In real life, the robot probably is the spaceship. Obviously, someone is still loading ingredients into the machine — some precooked — but that’s about it. Some restaurants let you order from a computer while a human makes your food and we’ve seen a few automated chefs, but nothing with this degree of mechanization.
About two years and a few million dollars later, Mezli co-founders Alex Kolchinski, Alex Gruebele, and Max Perham are days away from firing up the touch screens at what they believe to be the world’s first fully robotic restaurant.
To be clear, Mezli isn’t a restaurant in the traditional sense. As in, you won’t be able to pull up a seat and have a friendly server — human, robot, or otherwise — take your order and deliver your food. Instead, Mezli works more like if a vending machine and a restaurant had a robot baby, Kolchinski describes. It’s a way to get fresh food to a lot of people, really fast (the box can pump out about 75 meals an hour), and, importantly, at a lower price; the cheapest Mezli bowl starts at $6.99.
On its face, the concept actually sounds pretty simple. The co-founders built what’s essentially a big, refrigerated shipping container and stuffed it with machines capable of portioning out ingredients, putting those ingredients into bowls, heating the food up, and then moving it to a place where diners can get to it. But in a technical sense, the co-founders say it was quite difficult to work out. Most automated restaurants still require humans in some capacity; maybe people take orders while robots make the food or, vice versa, with automated ordering and humans prepping food behind the scenes. But Mezli can run on its own, serving hundreds of meals without any human staff.
The food does get prepped and pre-cooked off-site by good old-fashioned carbon-based beings.
Then, once a day, they load all the menu components into the big blue-and-white Mezli box. Inside the box, there’s an oven that either brings the ingredients up to temp or finishes up the last of the cooking. Cutting down on labor marks a key cost-saving measure in the Mezli business model; with just a fraction of the staff, as in less than a half dozen workers, Mezli can serve hundreds of meals.
Minnich developed the menu of Mediterranean-inspired bowls alongside the technology, which was key to ensuring everything meshed, he explains. Diners can choose from a set list of bowls — options include a lemon za’atar chicken bowl on a bed of turmeric rice, a roasted cauliflower and sweet potato bowl on a bed of red rice, a shredded lamb and tzatziki bowl garnished with roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, or a falafel bowl paired with Israeli salad. There’s also the choice to build your own bowl combining any ingredients into a meal resulting in some 64,800 possible options. Sides include a tahini chocolate chunk cookie, pita chips, and a selection of drinks.
The fully customizable nature of the Mezli menu also marks a departure from other automated restaurants, the co-founders say. Because of the company’s proprietary machinery and software, they’re able to allow diners to mix and match any ingredients they want — and a full menu change, for example to Thai or Indian food, requires (at least, hypothetically) nothing more than a software update.
Kolchinski recognizes Mezli might not be the future of dining; there are limitations to a model that’s devoid of human interaction, part of what draws many people to gather over food and drink at traditional restaurants. But he and the co-founders say their technology meets the requirements of being fast, convenient, affordable, and healthy in a way that traditional restaurants simply can’t. Mezli boxes, which run on electricity and don’t require gas hook-ups or a hood or even a water line, can be placed just about anywhere. Plus they can be built far cheaper than traditional restaurant build-outs cost, Kolchinski says, though he declined to share an exact cost for the production of the first box.
“You have to be careful as an engineer, to not be a hammer looking for a nail,” Kolchinski says. Now it’s up to hungry San Franciscans to judge if the company hit the nail on the head or missed the mark.
Making guacamole by hand normally takes [Estefannie] about 9 minutes. Given her insatiable appetite for the delicious condiment, she spends a lot of time whipping it up in the kitchen at home. Thus, it’s a task ripe for automation, and she set about building a robot to do the job instead.
The robot starts by chopping ingredients like tomato, onion, and avocado with a knife that swivels to cover the entire chopping board surface. Once chopped, a sweeping blade pushes the ingredients into a bowl to form the guacamole.
Initial tests were messy, and ingredients were chopped a little inconsistently. Later work involved reprogramming the machine to chop ingredients separately, rather than all at once, which did improve the quality of the guacamole significantly. However, fundamentally, it wasn’t making good guac, so much as it was making a very chunky salad. It simply couldn’t do all the complicated jobs required to make a smooth, delicious dip.
Helsinkiläisen ravintolan kissamainen Bella Bot kantaa kahdeksan lautasta ja puhuu 20 kieltä. Voiko se ratkaista tarjoilijapulan?
TULEVAISUUS kaartaa ravintola Hampton Bayn keittiöstä ja sanoo: ”Miauuu!”
Ääni on nuoren tytön, näyttötaulussa näkyvät kissan silmät ja viikset. Pään päällä on muoviset kissankorvat.
Pyörillään ravintolasaliin surfannut kissaa esittävä laite on robotti, hieman Tähtien sota -elokuvien R2D2:ta muistuttava mutta laihempi.
Robotti on etunimeltään Bella, sukunimeltään Bot. Neiti Bot on todennäköisesti Suomen ensimmäinen robottitarjoilija.
Bella Bot pysähtyy pöydän viereen ja kailottaa englanniksi: ”Rakas asiakas, ateriasi on valmis!”
Laitteessa on neljä hyllyä, jolle annokset on aseteltu asiakkaan otettaviksi. Bella näyttää sinisellä valolla, miltä hyllyltä oma ruoka löytyy.
PALJON on puhuttu ravintoloiden työvoimapulasta. Onko Bella Bot ratkaisu Hampton Bayssä työvoiman saatavuuteen?
”Ei, tarkoitus on saada asiakkaat hyvälle tuulelle ja pitää vähän hauskaa. Ja on kiva tehdä tämä ensimmäisenä Suomessa”, sanoo ravintoloitsija Tarja Palomäki.
”Bella on meidän maskottimme”
BELLA tuli Suomeen runsas viikko sitten, ja viime torstaina teknikko tuli Espanjasta ohjelmoimaan robotin.
Bella puhuu pariakymmentä kieltä. Suomea hän ei vielä osaa, mutta asia hoituu lataamalla laitteeseen oikeat äänitiedostot.
”Bella on hauska, koska sillä on tunteet. Bella muistuttaa vähän tamagochi-lelua”, Railonkoski sanoo.
A test location for a fully-automated McDonald’s location in Fort Worth, Texas has drawn a variety of reactions from viewers after being shared to TikTok by a food blog
Posted by user @foodiemunster, the video shows a new McDonald’s location that uses automated food ordering and a cashless payment system, with employees in the kitchen cooking the orders.
A robot pizza delivery startup that raised almost half a billion dollars has shut down after a series of technological setbacks, according to The Information
The new robot can make salad or bowl orders as a Chipotle employee simultaneously makes other items such as burritos, tacos, quesadillas and kids meals.
he food service industry is on the cusp of a significant transformation with the introduction of the Circus Autonomy One (CA-1), a groundbreaking robot designed to automate the entire food production process.
Housed within a mere seven-square-meter glass enclosure, the CA-1 utilizes dual robotic arms to manage inventory, retrieve ingredients from climate-controlled silos, cook meals over a heating element, and deliver the final product to a collection window—all without any human involvement.
This system is not a kitchen aid but a “full-stack replacement” aiming to redefine the traditional restaurant model.
The system is currently in a commercial pilot phase, actively processing orders and serving meals within REWE supermarkets in Germany.
Automation addresses labor shortages
Circus SE, the Munich-based company responsible for the CA-1, states that this automation is intended to address existing labor shortages and increase operational efficiency. The CA-1 is a self-contained unit powered by a proprietary AI named CircusOS, which manages real-time adaptive decision-making during operation.
Its successful integration into a real-world retail environment establishes a clear operational model for future fully automated food service locations. The technology is an automated, self-contained food service unit.
Defense sector identified as potential deployment area
Circus SE has also identified the defense sector as a potential area for the deployment of this technology. The CA-1 offers a model for automated, standardized food preparation that is not limited to civilian retail environments.
ack Ma-backed Ant Group has officially introduced its first humanoid robot, R1, at two major tech events this month in Berlin and Shanghai. At the IFA 2025 in Berlin on September 6, the robot was shown cooking shrimp in a mock kitchen.
Days later, it was featured at the Inclusion Conference in Shanghai on Thursday, where one model was on display while another demonstrated kitchen skills for visitors.
The robot was developed by Ant Lingbo Technology, also called Robbyant, the robotics arm of Ant Group. The company says that R1 can handle simple cooking, be a tour guide, or even provide basic medical consultations.
The demonstrations are part of Ant’s push to show that its artificial intelligence expertise can extend beyond digital services and into real-world machines.
Ant’s move into humanoid robots comes as competition in the field heats up. Companies like Unitree Robotics and Tesla are working on similar technology, aiming to combine advances in AI with robotics.
hinese robot maker Dobot Robotics has showcased its humanoid ‘Atom’ robot preparing a delicious steak. Although impressive enough, the real feat was the fact that the robot was remotely operated from 1,118 miles (1,800 km) away using virtual reality (VR).
Teleoperation over long distances
The company released the Atom model in March of this year at the cost of around $27,500 (199,000 yuan) a piece. Dobot celebrated the release of Atom with a similar culinary-themed video showing the robot preparing a nutritious breakfast.
Beyond just cooking steak
Founded in 2015, Dobot specializes in collaborative robot (cobot) arms, SCARA arms, desktop robot arms, and educational robot arms. Following the release of the video, Dobot’s stock price reportedly soared over 3%. The company has also already begun global shipments, with Japan receiving the first batch.
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47 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Here robot makes burgers:
Taste test: Burger robot startup Creator opens first restaurant
$6 of algorithmic deliciousness
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/creator-hamburger-robot/
Creator’s transparent burger robot doesn’t grind your brisket and chuck steak into a gourmet patty until you order it.
When I ask how a startup launching one eatery at a time could become a $10 billion company, Creator co-founder and CEO Alex Vardakostas looks me dead in the eye and says, “the market is much bigger than that.”
Eventually, an app will let people customize the exact ratios of all the ingredients, unlocking near infinite permutations.
“This is the kind of burger you would get for $12 to $18 [at an upscale restaurant], and it’s $6,”
the best at that price. A lot of that comes from the savings on labor and kitchen space afforded by a robot cook. “We spend more on our ingredients than any other burger restaurant.”
http://creator.rest/
In the meantime, other entrepreneurs have tried to find a business in food robots.
Bistrobot that haphazardly spurted liquid peanut butter and Nutella on white bread
Miso Robotics’ burger-flipping arm named Flippy made headlines
Tomi Engdahl says:
The pizza kitchen with the Pizza Rax logo features two Universal Robotics robots and robotic robots from Robotiq. They are used to fill pizza, to bake and to give to the customer.
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/05/21/pdp-gala-2018-alya-ja-uusia-tuoteideoita/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Other somewhat related article:
I Ate a Robot Hamburger Before the Restaurant Went Out of Business
https://hackaday.com/2018/10/11/i-ate-a-robot-hamburger-before-the-restaurant-went-out-of-business/#comment-5288071
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Pizza robot project is not going too well..
Natasha Mascarenhas / Crunchbase News:
Report: pizza-making robot startup Zume, which raised $375M from SoftBank Vision Fund in 2018, plans to lay off up to 400 staff, or about 80% of its employees — In a little over a year, pizza-making robot startup Zume has gone from getting $375 million from SoftBank, to pivoting …
SoftBank-Funded Zume Reportedly Lays Off 80% Of Staff
https://news.crunchbase.com/news/softbank-funded-zume-reportedly-lays-off-80-of-staff/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180614-the-chef-that-never-sleeps
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2020/08/12/the-ever-accelerating-automation-of-fast-food/
Tomi Engdahl says:
XRobotics is keeping the dream of pizza robots alive
https://tcrn.ch/32TuPNv
Zume pulled the plug on its robotic pizza wing earlier this year. A lot goes into making a decision like that — particularly for a company whose robotic dreams were a press darling for a while there. But its own inabilities to get the math right shouldn’t necessarily be taken as an indication of a lack of interest in food automation.
Of course, until another startup fully demonstrates that potential, the Zume story will almost invariably be a preamble for any other company looking to automate the process of pizza making.XRobotics, which launches today, is looking to play a role in helping to change that narrative with a new device designed to replace the traditional pizza make lines.
https://xrobotics.io/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.focusingfuture.com/me-consumer/robots-take-over-the-kitchen/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Singapore’s first robot cafe with automated egg fried rice and porridge.
https://fb.watch/2fbEELuWaG/
Tomi Engdahl says:
tässä on Suomen ensimmäinen pizza-automaatti!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc1CLV_j0ls
Tomi Engdahl says:
Short on staff, Ocean City restaurant enlists a robot helper
https://6abc.com/10657589/?ex_cid=TA_WPVI_FB&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
the lack of workers is forcing some restaurant owners to get creative, like Andrew Yoa, owner of Island Grill Seafood and Steakhouse in Ocean City.
Yoa said before the pandemic, the restaurant had a staff of 87 serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. After serving only takeout in 2020, the restaurant is now short 65 employees. It is also closed for breakfast and lunch.
“I’m feeling very happy that we have the kitchen staff to be able to produce the food, now we just had to come up with an idea: how do we get it out to our customers?” said Yoa.
He leased a robot named “Peanut” to help employees.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet The Robot Chef That Can Prepare Your Dinner
https://time.com/3819525/robot-chef-moley-robotics/
Ever since Americans were introduced to Rosie, the beloved robot maid on The Jetsons, way back in the 1960s, robotic household help has been the ultimate in futuristic dream products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parody:
Critics Warn $15 Wage Will Force McDonald’s To Replace Burger Patties With Robots
https://www.theonion.com/critics-warn-15-wage-will-force-mcdonald-s-to-replace-1846967163
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/hard-for-robots-autonomous-household-chores
Tomi Engdahl says:
I just watched McDonald’s new AI drive-thru and I’ve lost my appetite
https://www.zdnet.com/article/i-just-watched-mcdonalds-new-ai-drive-thru-and-ive-lost-my-appetite/?ftag=COS-05-10aaa0h&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
You’d think new technology would work hard at making you feel welcome at the drive-thru. Not necessarily. And now, oh, a McDonald’s customer is suing the company for alleged breach of privacy laws. Yes, at the robot drive-thru.
So when McDonald’s revealed it was testing the idea of replacing humans at the drive-thru with robots, I was filled with cautious optimism.
Would customers be greeted with a surprisingly chirpy voice, redolent of a young person who really enjoys high school?
Sadly, I haven’t been near Chicago lately and that’s where the burger chain is testing this as yet imperfect system — McDonald’s confesses the robot only grasps your order 85% of the time.
McDonald’s is trying something new. It may drive customers mad
https://www.zdnet.com/article/mcdonalds-is-trying-something-new-it-may-drive-customers-mad/
Whenever a fast-food chain tries to inject more technology into its offering, there are always issues. In this case, 15% of the time, it seems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.facebook.com/MagnumTechnicalConcept/videos/when-an-engineer-has-no-time-to-make-his-pizzawell-calculated-mechanical-enginee/603050904322215/
Tomi Engdahl says:
3 former SpaceX engineers have launched a robot restaurant that makes a pizza every 45 seconds. Take a look inside.
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fspacex-former-engineers-launch-robot-restaurant-stellar-pizza-five-minutes-2021-12&h=AT2_nGuv4-ZvjcKcCX-Ep0LFz-uiQKFkb7EwOyEOWGRtPnzcmnmQlGGZAm0nm1oltNOBlZaGRnrZ3Bmuts53_hIhRwcyzkCJk5ovJWRpx7Wo_DAuKEAo6iDhKu1SjXM1WpuLkxeRTzpGjff6ug
Stellar Pizza has more than 23 employees who used to work at Elon Musk’s company.
Stellar Pizza, a robotic restaurant that can churn out a pizza every 45 seconds, is opening in spring next year in Los Angeles.
Tomi Engdahl says:
White Castle recently announced plans to install Flippy the robotic “fry cook” at over 100 restaurants this year.
Flippy the Fast Food Robot Just Got Hired in 100 Restaurants
https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsingularityhub.com%2F2022%2F02%2F17%2Fflippy-the-fast-food-robot-is-going-to-work-in-100-restaurants%2F&h=AT1rJluw6CbP1A0i_p6-uiC5Z05yKm8T7_T7C3kdR2hBAw1mPvNPaUC-oH2E3Ero0bnyxfkCwmV4zd6LtmnAna1pCTLrij7XMClPa1NiQMaPfQHVVtW5HR38DnPJh4HJGw
Before the pandemic started (ah, those glorious days…) a collective panic was mounting over automation and robots gradually replacing workers in various fields, or “stealing our jobs,” as the common refrain went. These worries haven’t subsided two years later, but they’re being countered by severe and largely unexpected labor shortages across multiple sectors of the economy. One of the industries that’s struggling most is restaurants. While we may still encounter automation-related unemployment problems down the road, right now it seems robots are lending a much-needed hand in food service.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trendy bakery unleashes robots in San Francisco parks
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/treat-vending-robots-at-SF-parks-16975139.php
Tomi Engdahl says:
An Impressively Functional Tacobot
https://hackaday.com/2022/06/22/an-impressively-functional-tacobot/
We’re big fans of useless machines here at Hackaday, there’s something undeniably entertaining about watching a gadget flail about dramatically without actually making any progress towards a defined goal. But what happens when one of these meme machines ends up working too well? We think that’s just what we might be witnessing here with the Tacobot from [Vije Miller].
http://vijemiller.com/index.php?t=Tacobot
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Gauld: The robot hands have been trained to peel a banana
https://www.newscientist.com/article/0-tom-gauld-the-robot-hands-have-been-trained-to-peel-a-banana/
Tomi Engdahl says:
I’m Your Overlord, May I Take Your Order?
https://hackaday.com/2022/08/18/im-your-overlord-may-i-take-your-order/
If you’ve ever been at an eatery and thought the server was a bit robotic, you should try San Francisco’s Mezli. The restaurant claims to be the first one to be totally automated. There are no humans in there. The restaurant serves Mediterranean grain bowls. Honestly, it is hard to decide if Mezli is a restaurant or a very sophisticated vending machine.
Then again, that makes sense. Only in science fiction do you have androids flying spaceships. In real life, the robot probably is the spaceship. Obviously, someone is still loading ingredients into the machine — some precooked — but that’s about it. Some restaurants let you order from a computer while a human makes your food and we’ve seen a few automated chefs, but nothing with this degree of mechanization.
This Restaurant Is Run Entirely By Robots
Mezli is basically a big refrigerated box with a bunch of machines inside. No humans required.
https://sf.eater.com/2022/8/17/23308389/mezli-robot-restaurant-open-menu-san-francisco
About two years and a few million dollars later, Mezli co-founders Alex Kolchinski, Alex Gruebele, and Max Perham are days away from firing up the touch screens at what they believe to be the world’s first fully robotic restaurant.
To be clear, Mezli isn’t a restaurant in the traditional sense. As in, you won’t be able to pull up a seat and have a friendly server — human, robot, or otherwise — take your order and deliver your food. Instead, Mezli works more like if a vending machine and a restaurant had a robot baby, Kolchinski describes. It’s a way to get fresh food to a lot of people, really fast (the box can pump out about 75 meals an hour), and, importantly, at a lower price; the cheapest Mezli bowl starts at $6.99.
On its face, the concept actually sounds pretty simple. The co-founders built what’s essentially a big, refrigerated shipping container and stuffed it with machines capable of portioning out ingredients, putting those ingredients into bowls, heating the food up, and then moving it to a place where diners can get to it. But in a technical sense, the co-founders say it was quite difficult to work out. Most automated restaurants still require humans in some capacity; maybe people take orders while robots make the food or, vice versa, with automated ordering and humans prepping food behind the scenes. But Mezli can run on its own, serving hundreds of meals without any human staff.
The food does get prepped and pre-cooked off-site by good old-fashioned carbon-based beings.
Then, once a day, they load all the menu components into the big blue-and-white Mezli box. Inside the box, there’s an oven that either brings the ingredients up to temp or finishes up the last of the cooking. Cutting down on labor marks a key cost-saving measure in the Mezli business model; with just a fraction of the staff, as in less than a half dozen workers, Mezli can serve hundreds of meals.
Minnich developed the menu of Mediterranean-inspired bowls alongside the technology, which was key to ensuring everything meshed, he explains. Diners can choose from a set list of bowls — options include a lemon za’atar chicken bowl on a bed of turmeric rice, a roasted cauliflower and sweet potato bowl on a bed of red rice, a shredded lamb and tzatziki bowl garnished with roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, or a falafel bowl paired with Israeli salad. There’s also the choice to build your own bowl combining any ingredients into a meal resulting in some 64,800 possible options. Sides include a tahini chocolate chunk cookie, pita chips, and a selection of drinks.
The fully customizable nature of the Mezli menu also marks a departure from other automated restaurants, the co-founders say. Because of the company’s proprietary machinery and software, they’re able to allow diners to mix and match any ingredients they want — and a full menu change, for example to Thai or Indian food, requires (at least, hypothetically) nothing more than a software update.
Kolchinski recognizes Mezli might not be the future of dining; there are limitations to a model that’s devoid of human interaction, part of what draws many people to gather over food and drink at traditional restaurants. But he and the co-founders say their technology meets the requirements of being fast, convenient, affordable, and healthy in a way that traditional restaurants simply can’t. Mezli boxes, which run on electricity and don’t require gas hook-ups or a hood or even a water line, can be placed just about anywhere. Plus they can be built far cheaper than traditional restaurant build-outs cost, Kolchinski says, though he declined to share an exact cost for the production of the first box.
“You have to be careful as an engineer, to not be a hammer looking for a nail,” Kolchinski says. Now it’s up to hungry San Franciscans to judge if the company hit the nail on the head or missed the mark.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot Brutally Chops But Makes Poor Guacamole
https://hackaday.com/2022/09/02/robot-brutally-chops-but-makes-poor-guacamole/
Making guacamole by hand normally takes [Estefannie] about 9 minutes. Given her insatiable appetite for the delicious condiment, she spends a lot of time whipping it up in the kitchen at home. Thus, it’s a task ripe for automation, and she set about building a robot to do the job instead.
The robot starts by chopping ingredients like tomato, onion, and avocado with a knife that swivels to cover the entire chopping board surface. Once chopped, a sweeping blade pushes the ingredients into a bowl to form the guacamole.
Initial tests were messy, and ingredients were chopped a little inconsistently. Later work involved reprogramming the machine to chop ingredients separately, rather than all at once, which did improve the quality of the guacamole significantly. However, fundamentally, it wasn’t making good guac, so much as it was making a very chunky salad. It simply couldn’t do all the complicated jobs required to make a smooth, delicious dip.
I built a Mexican robot chef
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5XuHML646k
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot chef
https://www.facebook.com/reel/454917589834110?s=yWDuG2&fs=e
Tomi Engdahl says:
Helsinkiläiseen ravintolaan tuli tarjoilijaksi robotti
https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/helsinki/art-2000009199596.html
Helsinkiläisen ravintolan kissamainen Bella Bot kantaa kahdeksan lautasta ja puhuu 20 kieltä. Voiko se ratkaista tarjoilijapulan?
TULEVAISUUS kaartaa ravintola Hampton Bayn keittiöstä ja sanoo: ”Miauuu!”
Ääni on nuoren tytön, näyttötaulussa näkyvät kissan silmät ja viikset. Pään päällä on muoviset kissankorvat.
Pyörillään ravintolasaliin surfannut kissaa esittävä laite on robotti, hieman Tähtien sota -elokuvien R2D2:ta muistuttava mutta laihempi.
Robotti on etunimeltään Bella, sukunimeltään Bot. Neiti Bot on todennäköisesti Suomen ensimmäinen robottitarjoilija.
Bella Bot pysähtyy pöydän viereen ja kailottaa englanniksi: ”Rakas asiakas, ateriasi on valmis!”
Laitteessa on neljä hyllyä, jolle annokset on aseteltu asiakkaan otettaviksi. Bella näyttää sinisellä valolla, miltä hyllyltä oma ruoka löytyy.
PALJON on puhuttu ravintoloiden työvoimapulasta. Onko Bella Bot ratkaisu Hampton Bayssä työvoiman saatavuuteen?
”Ei, tarkoitus on saada asiakkaat hyvälle tuulelle ja pitää vähän hauskaa. Ja on kiva tehdä tämä ensimmäisenä Suomessa”, sanoo ravintoloitsija Tarja Palomäki.
”Bella on meidän maskottimme”
BELLA tuli Suomeen runsas viikko sitten, ja viime torstaina teknikko tuli Espanjasta ohjelmoimaan robotin.
Bella puhuu pariakymmentä kieltä. Suomea hän ei vielä osaa, mutta asia hoituu lataamalla laitteeseen oikeat äänitiedostot.
”Bella on hauska, koska sillä on tunteet. Bella muistuttaa vähän tamagochi-lelua”, Railonkoski sanoo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pizza-Pizza CNC Machine Makes Pizzas So You Don’t Have To
Teddy Warner, a high school senior from North Carolina, built this Pizza-Pizza CNC Machine.
https://www.hackster.io/news/pizza-pizza-cnc-machine-makes-pizzas-so-you-don-t-have-to-2abc96e2c411
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Finally, my order will be quick and accurate’: McDonald’s fully-automated location with no human employees sparks debate
‘No more attitude at the counter.’
https://www.dailydot.com/irl/mcdonalds-fully-automated/?fb=dd
A test location for a fully-automated McDonald’s location in Fort Worth, Texas has drawn a variety of reactions from viewers after being shared to TikTok by a food blog
Posted by user @foodiemunster, the video shows a new McDonald’s location that uses automated food ordering and a cashless payment system, with employees in the kitchen cooking the orders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/12/23/your-next-airport-meal-may-be-delivered-by-robot/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.narcity.com/a-guy-was-forced-to-tip-a-robot-bartender-tiktokers-want-to-know-where-the-moneys-going
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/01/25/pizza-making-cnc-machine-is-the-only-tool-weve-ever-dreamed-of/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot barista at Punggol Hawker Centre malfunctions, pours coffee dramatically onto ground
One diner quipped that the robot had been frightened by its audience.
https://mothership.sg/2023/05/robot-barista-punggol-malfunctions/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/robotic-coffee-comes-to-brooklyn-but-will-it-stay/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is this one job the robots can’t take?
ROBOT PIZZA STARTUP SHUTS DOWN AFTER CHEESE KEPT SLIDING OFF
https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-pizza-startup-shuts-down
A robot pizza delivery startup that raised almost half a billion dollars has shut down after a series of technological setbacks, according to The Information
SoftBank’s Onetime Pizza-Robot Darling Shuts Down
By Erin Woo | June 2, 2023 4:37 PM PDT
Zume, which raised $375 million from SoftBank to automate pizza-making with robots before switching to developing sustainable packaging, has shut down.
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/softbanks-onetime-pizza-robot-darling-shuts-down?irgwc=1&utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=10078-Skimbit+Ltd.&utm_term=businessinsider.com&irclickid=WSWQzc0X9xyPUkY33cws3R6HUkF0kBRxlwcqQ40&irgwc=1&utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=cpa&utm_campaign=10078-Skimbit+Ltd.&utm_term=futurism.com
The company is insolvent
Tomi Engdahl says:
The new robot can make salad or bowl orders as a Chipotle employee simultaneously makes other items such as burritos, tacos, quesadillas and kids meals.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/chipotle-testing-robots-to-make-bowls-salads?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3M9icKab82m6H3UC9NA96tr467FSs6MtnNHVHvWsfBf0kRaLU-BdWB5PE
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2024/06/03/ravintolat-testaavat-robottitarjoilijoita/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/25/the-spinmeister-for-a-perfect-pizza-every-time/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/16651-tehtaissa-jo-4-miljoonaa-robottia-ympaeri-maailmaa
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/real-reason-costcos-pizza-delicious/?link_source=ta_first_comment&taid=675f35551e13ea0001c3d45c&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=organicsocial&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawHSwLJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQD9-pDpV-7yL1t-ZSFdCf50Mc0bbO6qKPQBHYAIorYDz83P0r2mllWWxw_aem_JEDo2F4IbHPK1c3MUrrzwQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
Uncle Roger and robot
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/156TeCvP9Z/
Tomi Engdahl says:
ABB:n robotit tositoimissa: hampurilainen kasaan vain 27 sekunnissa
BurgerBots-ravintola kokoaa hampurilaiset robottien avulla vain 27 sekunnissa.
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/abbn-robotit-tositoimissa-hampurilainen-kasaan-vain-27-sekunnissa/3968c6e6-c882-46de-940d-637720962a40
ABB and BurgerBots unveil robotic burger-making to revolutionize fast food prep
https://new.abb.com/news/detail/125513/prsrl-abb-and-burgerbots-unveil-robotic-burger-making-to-revolutionize-fast-food-prep
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meet Posha, a countertop robot that cooks your meals for you
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/meet-posha-a-countertop-robot-that-cooks-your-meals-for-you/
Tomi Engdahl says:
FuN
Get that robots crotch away from my burger!!! #nerd #NerdLife #anime #manga #comics #AI
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1VdxXui5BR/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robot fried Rice
https://youtu.be/rteC-zY0xjk?si=LC8Pv-m8TDjDx9pI
Tomi Engdahl says:
The CA-1 is a full-stack restaurant replacement in a box. https://bit.ly/3Jm2Gb3
Tomi Engdahl says:
Photos: This robot cooks 120 dishes an hour with no staff, replaces entire restaurant
The autonomous CA-1 is engineered to replace prep cooks, line cooks, and dishwashers in a single unit.
https://interestingengineering.com/photo-story/robot-kitchen-cooks-meal-no-staff
he food service industry is on the cusp of a significant transformation with the introduction of the Circus Autonomy One (CA-1), a groundbreaking robot designed to automate the entire food production process.
Housed within a mere seven-square-meter glass enclosure, the CA-1 utilizes dual robotic arms to manage inventory, retrieve ingredients from climate-controlled silos, cook meals over a heating element, and deliver the final product to a collection window—all without any human involvement.
This system is not a kitchen aid but a “full-stack replacement” aiming to redefine the traditional restaurant model.
The system is currently in a commercial pilot phase, actively processing orders and serving meals within REWE supermarkets in Germany.
Automation addresses labor shortages
Circus SE, the Munich-based company responsible for the CA-1, states that this automation is intended to address existing labor shortages and increase operational efficiency. The CA-1 is a self-contained unit powered by a proprietary AI named CircusOS, which manages real-time adaptive decision-making during operation.
Its successful integration into a real-world retail environment establishes a clear operational model for future fully automated food service locations. The technology is an automated, self-contained food service unit.
Defense sector identified as potential deployment area
Circus SE has also identified the defense sector as a potential area for the deployment of this technology. The CA-1 offers a model for automated, standardized food preparation that is not limited to civilian retail environments.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jack Ma-backed firm unveils humanoid robot butler that can cook garlic shrimp
The 243-pound, two-armed robot is already in mass production and shipped to clients like the Shanghai History Museum.
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robbyants-r1-cooks-shrimp-at-tech-fair
ack Ma-backed Ant Group has officially introduced its first humanoid robot, R1, at two major tech events this month in Berlin and Shanghai. At the IFA 2025 in Berlin on September 6, the robot was shown cooking shrimp in a mock kitchen.
Days later, it was featured at the Inclusion Conference in Shanghai on Thursday, where one model was on display while another demonstrated kitchen skills for visitors.
The robot was developed by Ant Lingbo Technology, also called Robbyant, the robotics arm of Ant Group. The company says that R1 can handle simple cooking, be a tour guide, or even provide basic medical consultations.
The demonstrations are part of Ant’s push to show that its artificial intelligence expertise can extend beyond digital services and into real-world machines.
Ant’s move into humanoid robots comes as competition in the field heats up. Companies like Unitree Robotics and Tesla are working on similar technology, aiming to combine advances in AI with robotics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese humanoid robot cooks steak by remote control from 1,118 miles away
Dobot Robotics’ Atom has 28 degrees of freedom, is equipped with five-fingered hands and can be controlled via VR with an accuracy of 0.05 millimeters.
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/chinese-humanoid-long-distance-remote-robot-chef
hinese robot maker Dobot Robotics has showcased its humanoid ‘Atom’ robot preparing a delicious steak. Although impressive enough, the real feat was the fact that the robot was remotely operated from 1,118 miles (1,800 km) away using virtual reality (VR).
Teleoperation over long distances
The company released the Atom model in March of this year at the cost of around $27,500 (199,000 yuan) a piece. Dobot celebrated the release of Atom with a similar culinary-themed video showing the robot preparing a nutritious breakfast.
Beyond just cooking steak
Founded in 2015, Dobot specializes in collaborative robot (cobot) arms, SCARA arms, desktop robot arms, and educational robot arms. Following the release of the video, Dobot’s stock price reportedly soared over 3%. The company has also already begun global shipments, with Japan receiving the first batch.