California-based Miso Robotics has announced it will collaborate with Panera Bread to develop an artificially intelligent espresso-making system called CookRight. The system will monitor temperature, volume, time, and preparation time in order to create the perfect cup of coffee. Miso stated that it will partner with Panera Bread to test an artificially intelligent coffee-making system called CookRight.
The company has made a name for itself by specializing in Cleaning robots for restaurants like the fry-station-manning Flippy and the soft-drink-dispensing Sippy. Chippy is a modified Flippy that can season and cook tortilla chips. It’s currently being tested at Chipotle’s innovation center in Irvine, California.
Faced by human labor shortages during pandemic, many restaurants have turned to robots and other automated machines for the necessary roles. Miso isn’t the only one in the food industry. IBM is helping McDonald’s automate its drive-thrus. Richtech Robotics Pudu Robotics and Bear Robotics are just three of the many companies that have started testing robot food runners and servers. Many robot companies have reported an increase in demand for their mechanical helpers. This trend has continued.
The slow return of the food industry, which is estimated to be worth approximately $800 billion by 2021, is a sign of a recovering industry. It seems that some robots are still here to stay for the moment. “Robots don’t take jobs because millions of jobs in restaurants around the globe are vacant every day. “People aren’t showing up at the fry station,” Jake Brewer (chief strategy officer at Miso) told Fast Company.
Payment robots are also reliable and durable. Robots can be expected to show up when they are told and they will do their job as long as they are fully charged, maintained, and have their software updated regularly. These mechanical workers are not afraid of being sprayed with hot oil. Their programs also give them a number of parameters, including the temperature and time it should be cooked for. This feature could help reduce food-borne diseases caused by human error, The New York Times reported.
These robots are able to function independently of human supervision thanks to the AI platforms. A study published in Science Robotics this week showed that serving and food preparation jobs are at a higher risk of being replaced with AI-powered robots than other healthcare or education-related jobs. This was based on the research method which maps current robot capabilities to job requirements.
These robot technologies in their current form have their faults. They are not always successful. For example, the bubble tea barista robots , which were expected to be a big hit, did not succeed in Taiwan. Many restaurant owners stated that robots can sometimes confuse their signals or miss social cues. They are also unable to adapt to changing environments, unpredictable situations, and random chaos, which is often part of fast-paced restaurant operations. While robots are great for sub-tasking in dangerous, tedious or repetitive roles, they lack the human intelligence to understand complex requests and maneuver around spills, accidents, and other unforeseen circumstances.
These robots are not inexpensive. According to CNBC , Miso’s robots cost around $5,000 to install and $3,000 per month to maintain. Servi, an automated waiter, is available from Bear Robotics for $999 per month, including support and installation, according to the report.
The most important thing to remember is that there are many social aspects to customer service and cooking that cannot be automated. While robots are capable of performing simple tasks such as checking the customer’s age to determine whether they are old enough to drink alcohol, or interacting dynamicallywith customers, it is not yet able to do more complex tasks. Robots are limited in their ability to move food around, take orders via touchscreens and perform repetitive tasks.
