The Automation Age Episode 1: Food Services Industry

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Hello, welcome to NeoScribe.

According to a study done by the McKinsey Global Institute, AI and Robotics will replace an estimated 800 million jobs around the world by 2030.

On the other hand, many experts believe that in many instances, automation will replace tasks more so than jobs.

Additionally, supporting the technology behind automation will add many jobs as well.

But, regardless of your viewpoint, AI and Robotics will drastically change how goods and services are provided.

So, this is the first video of a new series that aims to uncover what the automated future will be like.

And today, we’re going to explore the food services industry, starting with the startup Spyce.

The company was founded by four robotics-obsessed engineers out of MIT who teamed up with the Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud.

And they Spyce recently opened robotic their first restaurant in Boston.

The Restaurant centers around 7 incredible iron chefs, not the Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto variety, I’m talking about 7 robotic woks!

First, a team of prep cooks prepares the ingredients overnight.

When the restaurant is open for business, orders are placed on snazzy touch screens, activating the Ingredient delivery system, that automatically allocates ingredients from the hoppers and to the Woks.

One or two employees ensures that hoppers are stocked with ingredients from the fridge.

The meals are tumbled, cooked and seared at 232° Celsius for up to 3 minutes and then laid onto bowls for a final quick garnish, ready to serve.
Now let’s move on to San Francisco another start-up called Creator.
The company launched its first restaurant back in September after 8 years of developing the Creator Robot.

The robot is an incredible burger making machine stocked with 350 sensors, 50 actuators, and 20 computers.

The restaurant is equipped with two robots, and each fully automated machine has an output capacity of 120 burgers per hour.

Each burger is fully created from scratch by the machine, including prep work such as grinding fresh meat into patties and cutting up the fixings like tomatoes and onions.

Once orders are placed, buns are pushed through a compressed air tube onto an elevator on the side of the machine.

They’re sliced, buttered and toasted, glide along a conveyor belt as fresh ingredients are added.

It’s a 30-second process from start to finish, producing a high-quality burger for a very reasonable $6.
Now let’s turn our attention to another burger-making robot called Flippy, developed and sold by Miso Robotics, based out of Pasadena California.

Flippy is an AI-driven robot that serves as a robotic kitchen assistant.

With its deep learning software, Flippy is capable of learning from its surrounds and can acquire new skills over time.

Flippy works in conjunction with the Miso AI System which serves the robot’s brain.

And together they form a Cloud-Based Learning Platform.

Flippy is equipped with thermal scanners and Miso AI is equipped with cameras and computer vision programming.

Together, Flippy is able to detect when raw burger patties are placed on the grill and monitor each patty in real-time throughout the cooking process.
Now let’s move on to another robot called Sally, developed by Chowbotics based out of Redwood City, CA.

Sally is a 3x3 foot futuristic robotic vending machine can create made-to-order customizable 8-component salads in under a minute.

Its stocked with enough food to create 50-100 meals depending on the output distribution and is restocked daily to maintain freshness.
Sally hold 22 different ingredients are stored in sleek airtight canisters, in a refrigerated environment to maintain freshness.

These options allow for over 1,000 different combinations.

And no matter the combination, Sally will provide calorie counts in real time and ensure precise portions.

Doughbot is developed by ABB however it is utilized by Zume, based out of Mountain View, CA.

Zume has filed over 1,700 patents in order to create an Automated food service platform and aim to revolutionize the industry.

The platform is designed to cook pizza in route to customers once ordered through the app.

This allows pizza to be delivered fresh out of the oven.

Additionally, the company is able to reach customers at a much farther radius which saves money associated with having additional buildings.

In fact, the platform is based on a centralized commissary where the pizza is prepped and then loaded into the delivery trucks.

Doughbot can press dough and spreads sauce much faster than a human can.

Zume added two other ABB robots asked with adding and removing pizzas from an 800° oven.

Between the 3 robots, a full rack of pizzas can be prepared in under 5 minutes.