You can count on robots tossing hamburgers as a pandemic innovation that is here to stay. White Castle today announced that it will bring Flippy 2, a robot chef that can essentially perform the same tasks as a team of cooks, to 100 more locations this year. This equates to approximately one of White Castle restaurants across the country, so it’s likely that Flippy could become a permanent addition to this burger chain’s workforce.
Last fall, the burger chain with Miso Robotics, the makers of Flippy, will launch a pilot program at its Chicagoland location. The company then unveiled Flippy 2, the latest iteration of the robot chef, in November. Now it looks like the robot chef is ready for prime time.
The average Castelo Branco customer is unlikely to notice the new robots when they arrive. Since Flippy 2 is designed to perform “backyard” kitchen functions, that’s where you’ll find them. The robot uses AI to identify the type of food (like hamburgers, chicken fingers or fries), pick it up, cook it, put it in its own frying basket, and finally put it in a hot area.
But it is possible that your order from White Castle will go out a little faster than usual. Flippy 2 can deliver 60 food baskets an hour, according to Miso Robotics , or about 300 hamburgers a day. Unlike the previous model, the Flippy 2 can operate entirely without human intervention.
Miso Robotics is primarily crowdfunded; the company has raised over $50 million from over 15,000 investors and is currently in its Series E funding round.
It’s no secret that we’re in the middle of a . Miso Robotics has launched a of Flippy that Buffalo Wild Wings is currently testing, according to CNBC. As robots also minimize human contact in the kitchen, they are also used as a pandemic safety measure. Beijing is even using to feed athletes and guests in its closed bubble of the Winter Olympics. We are likely to see more robotic innovations emerging in the restaurant industry, especially given the recent .
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