CaliBurger rolls out the world’s first burger flipping robot

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By Matthew Griffin Robo Revolution 5th April 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Robot manufacturers are increasingly targeting the services sector, and that includes flipping burgers.

Flippy, a burger flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at CaliBurger, a burger chain in California, and in doing so it broke the hearts of tens of thousands of wannabe burger flippers around the world.

Could this be the beginning of the end for humans at the grill? Probably not but it’s another sign that times, and perhaps more importantly attitudes towards robots, could be changing.

The robotic kitchen assistant, whose creators Miso Robotics, are keen to capitalise on the public’s, and businesses, new found interest in robotics can be installed in just five minutes and apparently it cooks perfect burgers every time, non-stop, 24/7. Unlike a fry cook

“Much like self-driving vehicles, Flippy continuously learns from its experiences to improve over time,” said David Zito, chief executive officer of Miso Robotics, “and although we’re starting with the relatively ‘simple’ task of cooking burgers, our proprietary artificial intelligence software allows our kitchen assistants to be adaptable and therefore can be trained to help with almost any dull, dirty or dangerous task in a commercial kitchen – whether it’s frying chicken, cutting vegetables or final plating.”

So Miso Robotics quest for world domination it seems does not stop at burgers…

Cameras and sensors help Flippy to determine when the burger is fully cooked before the robot places them on a bun, after which a human co-worker, if that’s the right word, takes over and adds condiments. Although in time that too is going to be easy enough to automate.

CaliBurger has now announced that it plans to roll Flippy out to at least fifty more restaurants within the next year with the aim of installing them worldwide by the end of 2019, saying that the benefits include making “food faster, safer and with fewer errors,” and let’s not forget the $21,000 they save for every employee they don’t have to pay.

It’s a sad day for Spongebob, and fry cooks everywhere, and who knows one day Flippy could find itself cooking lab grown burgers…

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as a "Walking encyclopaedia of the future" by NASA and a futurist polymath, is one of the world's most renowned futurists and strategic foresight experts. A serial entrepreneur Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years, XPotential University, the world's first free futures and foresight university, and the World Futures Forum which works with the United Nations to solve the worlds greatest challenges. 13 times author of the Codex of the Future series, Matthew is an in demand international keynote, acclaimed university lecturer, and host of the hit Fanatical Futurist podcast.

A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and run several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world's most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pepsi Co, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others. He was also the only futurist invited to talk at the UN COP28 held in Dubai alongside world leaders.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.