At the soon-to-open Cali Express by Flippy restaurant, you can order on a screen and then watch robots bustle over burger grills and fries baskets, serving your food—without a single kid pretending to be happy to see you.
This is the robot restaurant of the future, where there is no forced human interaction during the transaction. A "flip" robotic arm mounted on a track will shuttle between stations, fill the frying basket, and shake and knock the basket as it is lowered into the oil.
The AI system will freshly grind the wagyu to order, then watch the grill as Flippy's robotic arm picks up the shovel, making sure each patty is seared to perfection and sliding them onto the buns along with the necessary vegetables and sauces.
You can see part of this process in a 2021 video below that highlights the technology.
"To our knowledge, this is the first restaurant in the world where ordering and every cooking process is completely automated," said John Miller, the system's creator and a member of the MisoRobotics board of directors. "Combining these different technologies to create the world's most autonomous restaurant is the culmination of years of research, development and investment by a family of revolutionary companies."
The automated burger station will be located on the side of the manned burger bar, so there will still be human employees around to clean up Flippy's mistakes, and the machines will soon allow fast-food restaurants to be "operated in a more relaxed environment with fewer employees... while also providing above-average wages."
Miso has also created a "pseudo-museum experience" that makes a retired burger-flipping robotic arm dance for customers, which the company hopes will "inspire the next generation of kitchen AI and automation entrepreneurs."
In a sense, rather than saying that this robot is handling most of the work process, it is better to say that it is the best among commercial fast food robots in 2023.