Burger Flippers of the World Beware - The Robots are coming for your jobs...

[Avacee]

A robot named Flippy is now in the kitchen at a fast food restaurant called Caliburger in Pasadena.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-43292047/burger-flipping-robot-begins-first-shift
https://caliburger.com/flippy

I predict there will soon be a robot for the fries, for adding salad, for everything else and eventually Fast Food restaurants will simply become a production line where your order will appear on a tray ready to go.
Reminds me of "Humans Need Not Apply"

Edit: Apologies if already covered - my google-fu failed to find it if so

[Technobabble_]

We have a similar company in the US.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4602682/Robots-churn-400-burgers-hour-set-over.html

Last time I had correspondence with them they were looking for people to start their first store (about 1.25 years ago).

edit:link

[LaserSteve]

And you guys haven't seen McDonald's robotic drink dispenser which has been out a few years now?

Steve

[nctnico]

https://caliburger.com/flippy

I don't think that robot will pass health&safety regulations when it comes to cleaning. Besides that I'm pretty sure you can built a better (dedicated) machine for grilling burgers. Also notice the 'cloud connected brain' claim. No internet=no burgers 

[rdl]

And you guys haven't seen McDonald's robotic drink dispenser which has been out a few years now?

I guess I have because in every McDonald's I've visited lately, they just take my money and hand me an empty cup. I have to go fill it up myself.

[Scott75]

Hi, нere is another option. Easy Breakfast Toast.


Rozum Robotics
Manufacturer for collaborative robotics, servomotors and brushless motors.

[Zero999]

https://caliburger.com/flippy

I don't think that robot will pass health&safety regulations when it comes to cleaning. Besides that I'm pretty sure you can built a better (dedicated) machine for grilling burgers. Also notice the 'cloud connected brain' claim. No internet=no burgers 

That looks like a gimmick to me.

I notice the marketing talks about fresh never frozen burgers, but in reality it makes no difference to the end result, whether the burger was cooked from frozen or not. I'd rather they use the same, high quality burgers frozen: lower cost and less waste. I often buy high quality burgers from the supermarket, cheap because they're on their use by day and freeze them at home. And always cook a burger from frozen. I've noticed lots of packs of burgers recommend thawing first, if frozen at home, but this is nonsense, just add extra time on and take extra care to ensure it's cooked through.

The one on the BBC website looks more practical. I'm surprised this hasn't been done before and isn't already common place. I imagine one problem is there's a wide range of different burgers on the menu and different set programs will be needed, for each menu item. Of course people will still be needed to program the thing and there will be paid technicians who service and repair the machine.

[rrinker]

And you guys haven't seen McDonald's robotic drink dispenser which has been out a few years now?

I guess I have because in every McDonald's I've visited lately, they just take my money and hand me an empty cup. I have to go fill it up myself.

They use it for the drive thru, order in and you get  a cup and pick your own from the machine. If you glance around the corner or hit the drive thru you can see it, it has a conveyor which holds the cups and they move along the line and ice gets added, then the drink of choice is automatically dispensed. Had it for years around here. All based on what they key in when you order, say medium diet coke and it drops a medium size cup, adds ice, and fills it with diet coke. Say large orange drink (see if anyone gets THAT reference) and it drops a large cup, loads ice, and dispenses orange.

[HoracioDos]

I predict there will soon be a robot for the fries, for adding salad, for everything else and eventually Fast Food restaurants will simply become a production line where your order will appear on a tray ready to go.

That's why education should be affordable or available for everybody. Most people should be prepared for higher value added jobs.

[Marco]

I notice the marketing talks about fresh never frozen burgers, but in reality it makes no difference to the end result

If you also grind it on the fly, like the Momentum Machines you might be able to serve the burgers medium rare. Pass chunks through boiling water, grind, grill ... keeping the grinder semi-sterile would be hardest.

Though even then, it's easiest to start from semi-frozen meat.

[ebclr]

Why Flip, you can easily frill both sides, with a double side heated grill, a total no sense using a robot to flip something that does not need to be fliped

[james_s]

I predict there will soon be a robot for the fries, for adding salad, for everything else and eventually Fast Food restaurants will simply become a production line where your order will appear on a tray ready to go.

That's why education should be affordable or available for everybody. Most people should be prepared for higher value added jobs.

There will still always be a need for entry level jobs though. I put in my year or so flipping burgers when I was a teenager and it was a great experience. It was hard work, the pay was crap, it certainly wasn't a career but I walked in there with absolutely no experience and no resume, filled out an application and got the job. It was an opportunity to demonstrate that I could show up to work on time and sober, perform the tasks that were assigned to me and interact with customers. Being a bunch of teenagers working there it was fun too, for a while, and I learned quite a lot. It also allowed me to earn enough money to buy a junky car which I could then use to drive to a better job.

It's one of those jobs I think everyone should do at some point in their lives, but nobody should try to make a career of it unless they want to be the manager of one.

[edy]

As mentioned in previous posts on this thread, a robot here sounds like a gimmick. There are I'm sure better assembly-line dedicated machines for flipping burgers. The only advantage here with the robot is the restaurant doesn't have to change their equipment.

As far as economics go, I'm sorry but the cost of a human burger flipper is still so cheap that it makes absolutely no sense to purchase a robot and have to deal with all the trouble it is likely to cause.

I think minimum wage in USA was $7-8 a while back, now maybe $10/hour? That human is running around flipping, putting together the sandwich, cleaning, doing a whole bunch of other jobs. If you hired a robot, you would still need a human to service the robot, do the cleaning, stack the sandwiches, cut up ingredients or put burgers on the burner, etc.... You aren't going to save anything!

I call Gimmick for this one... I can't imagine I would go to a vending machine or robot-restaurant just to save a few pennies on the food, if even!

Then again, there is this Robot Restaurant I would probably want to check out (only in Japan)  :