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posted by martyb on Sunday September 02 2018, @08:54PM   Printer-friendly
from the Could-I-Please-Have-My-Robot-Medium-Rare? dept.

Technology Review reports on a startup restaurant https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611788/engineering-lunch/ that features specialized robots to assemble ingredients and wok-fry them for healthy fast food.

As customers placed their orders, Spyce's automated food storage bins (known as hoppers) reliably fed refrigerated ingredients through a portioning system that measures precise quantities into a red box that zips along a horizontal track. That box, called the runner, collects ingredients and delivers them to one of seven induction-heated woks that spin to tumble the food so it cooks evenly at 450 °F. ...

The development process had some low points,

Even so, their cooking robot was still a work in progress. That fall, it dumped half-cooked food straight onto the counter in front of a potential investor. One outcome of that fiasco: each of the restaurant's automated woks now has a sensor telling it whether there's a bowl underneath.

These MechEs recognized that they might not know much about the restaurant business,

Even as they were perfecting their automated kitchen technology, the founders knew they needed more than technical expertise to develop a successful robotic restaurant. So Farid got in touch with restaurateur Daniel Boulud, the chef-owner of multiple award-winning restaurants and author of nine cookbooks, by guessing his e-mail address in five tries—and the team ultimately convinced him to serve as Spyce's culinary director and invest in the concept.

Check out the link to see how they managed to make kale (reasonably) palatable...


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @08:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 03 2018, @08:04AM (#729783)

    I was of the idea the TV dinner prep was more like a candy factory or bottling plant... the main reason humans were even around is they know what to do when things go wrong, and make sure no vermin hang around the plant.

    Someone getting a bonus serving of mouse or cockroach in their dinner isn't gonna be a happy camper. We haven't quite developed sufficient marketing skill to make the customer think the free serving is something to cheer for... something for nothing...winning the lotto, whatever.