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SPECIAL:


THE DISRUPTION EDITION


The rise of the robots


With a crushing labor shortage in the foodservice industry and a rising tide of technological innovation, talk of robotic kitchens is spreading faster than ever. Jim Banks speaks to consultants and equipment manufacturers about robotic kitchens and whether the concept is about to turn the industry on its head


T


he concept of a robot is commonplace, both in fi ction and in reality. Car manufacturing, for example, is defi ned by robotic


assembly lines. Yet there is often confusion about where the line is drawn between a robot and a simple piece of electronic equipment – especially in foodservice. Is a blender a robot? Some would say yes. “Anything that aids the


preparation or cooking production process is considered a robot,” says Khaled Halabi FCSI, director of design at US consultancy Cini-Little. “A kitchen blender or a processor is technically a robot, hence the name robot coupe, which is now synonymous with any brand of blenders. However, more recently that term is reserved for armed robotics like the ones we see fl ipping burgers or frying French fries.”


“There are also automated pizza


assembly systems that can produce up to 100 pizzas per hour,” he adds. “Also, we should not forget the speed ovens that can combine several tasks at one push of a programmed button. Automation in the controls of equipment is a very important part of the robotic process.” Is there an argument, however, to consider robotics as something more than just the replacement of a human limb with a machine? “McDonald’s at one point wanted a fully automated kitchen – we created an automated frying station with a robot arm replacing a human arm – but the core of the process does not change,” says Phil Radford, senior vice president at equipment manufacturer Welbilt. “People are afraid to change the process, so it is just human replacement, not real robotics.” “What qualifi es as a robot is a grey


area,” he adds. “Automation does not necessarily involve robotics. A robot is versatile, not just for automating a specifi c process. The key is that a real robot will benefi t when it is more like human intelligence and can learn.”


Human brain replacement Even if your defi nition of a robot is something more complex than a blender, there are many breakthrough innovations that have brought the concept to the attention of chefs, designers and customers.


Perhaps the most famous example is Flippy, the burger-


fl ipping robot, the latest version of which is being used by burger chain White Castle to handle food preparation tasks such as fry basket fi lling, emptying and returning. Flippy 2 is more autonomous and uses AI to diff erentiate between fries, onion rings or chicken tenders to adjust the cooking time. “Flippy is a simple robot but if, in the future, it has a camera that looks at the burger and sees how it shrinks when it


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