In the United States, a Californian laboratory has developed a robot that largely manages the cooking of fries in fast food restaurants. Will technology eventually replace humans in chip shops?
The robot arm that was building the cars just pulled the human hand out of the kitchen. Camera, artificial intelligence and automation, this is the famous recipe of American capitalism…for cooking fries.
“When an order goes through the system in the restaurant, the machine automatically takes a frozen product”, explains Mike Bell, general manager of Miso Robotix in Pasadena. “She fries it for a specific amount of time and follows the product through to the end. It’s done faster and with more fun than any human…”
Originally, Flippy, the cooking arm, was just supposed to flip the burgers. But restaurateurs have noticed that they waste a lot more time cooking fries.
“It’s the job that’s often the hardest to fill and keep,” says Mike Bell. “It really doesn’t take anything away from restaurant workers. In fact, they are happy to have help to be able to do something else.”
And with us?
But what do the professionals here think? Charles, a potato lover would never agree to cook anything other than hand-cut fries. We asked him to look the future straight in the eye. Is it arm wrestling or a helping hand by engineers and a robot? And there, the trader’s heart takes over a little. “If you pay one person less, it’s €60,000 won,” says Charles Devogelaere, chip shop owner. “If it costs €300,000, it’s amortized in five years.”
I prefer a human person
It remains to convince customers. Because even the most faithful may have a little trouble swallowing the idea. “Why a robot?“, indignantly a customer of Charles’s chip shop. “We do not know how to speak with the gentleman. It really doesn’t suit me, I prefer a human person.“
The restaurant industry in the United States should not take long to adopt the system. Some are already saying that Flippy is the first big revolution in the kitchen since the arrival of the dishwasher.