They then assessed the cooking depth, colour development, moisture retention and flavour differences of the laser-cooked 3D printed samples in comparison to stove-cooked meat. The “Digital Food” team exposed raw 3D printed chicken structures to both blue and infrared light. In 2021, Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science engineers developed a method of cooking 3D printed chicken with software-controlled robotic lasers. Customers could specify in grams what hot and cold items, proteins, sauces and fresh toppings they wanted. 2,700 different combinations of dishes were on offer. In September 2021, Karakuri’s 'Semblr' food service robot served personalised lunches for the 4,000 employees of grocery technology solutions provider ocado Group's head offices in Hatfield, UK. In 2020, a restaurant in the Netherlands began trialling the use of a robot to serve guests. The automation of restaurants may also allow for the option for greater customization of an order. Robots are designed to help and sometimes replace human labour (such as waiters and chefs). A few fully automated restaurants operate without any human intervention whatsoever. These may include: taking orders, preparing food, serving, and billing. More recently, restaurants are opening that have completely or partially automated their services. Customers ordered their food directly through the machines.Īs of 2011, across Europe, McDonald's had already begun implementing 7,000 touch screen kiosks that could handle cashiering duties. These restaurants were called automats or, in Japan, shokkenki. In the early 1970s a number of restaurants served food solely through vending machines. This example of automation dates back to the Japanese economic miracle the first of Yoshiaki's conveyor belt sushi restaurants was opened under the name Mawaru Genroku Sushi in 1958, in Osaka. Yoshiaki's restaurants are an extremely early example of restaurant automation they used a conveyor belt to distribute dishes around the restaurant, eliminating the need for waiters. He got the idea to use conveyor belt technology in sushi after seeing beer bottles on a conveyor belt in an Asahi brewery. He conjured up the idea due to difficulty staffing his small sushi restaurant and managing the restaurant on his own. This Japanese innovator is known for the creation of conveyor belt sushi. When discussing commercial restaurant automation, it is hard not to mention Yoshiaki Shiraishi. Restaurant automation means the use of a restaurant management system to automate the major operations of a restaurant establishment. This section needs expansion with: details of technology used, designers, manufacturers, etc.

Robotize fast food 2015