Robots are coming for our jobs, and fast food workers aren’t safe.
Pasadena-based Miso Robotics is in the business of creating food robots to automate certain tasks in the restaurant industry. The company’s most well-known venture is Flippy — a burger-flipping, fry-cooking robotic arm.
Flippy had its shot at the big leagues when it debuted at Dodger Stadium in 2018. There, it worked alongside stadium employees to cook chicken tenders for hungry fans. Since then, Flippy has expanded to other kitchens around the country.
And now, Miso Robotics is announcing its latest iteration of food robot — the Miso Robot on a Rail, a.k.a. ROAR.
With ROAR, Miso Robotics took Flippy and, well, flipped it upside down. Instead of being stationed on a large cart like the traditional Flippy, ROAR features robotic arms attached to a rail that’s suspended in air. ROAR is designed to be installed under fume hoods, so it’s out of the way of busy cooks.
“It was incredible to see the efficiency with which the team adapted Flippy to a rail. In my mind, that validated the software platform approach we took in designing Flippy's brain,” Dr. Ryan Sinnet, CTO and co-founder of Miso Robotics, said in a statement.
ROAR will be commercially available by the end of 2020, allowing interested restaurants the opportunity to automate their kitchen.
In 2019, Flippy robots served over 15,000 burgers and more than 31,000 pounds of chicken tenders and tots. With ROAR coming out this year, the Flippy fast food takeover could be around the corner.
