From farm equipment to packaging machines, food production is already highly mechanized, but the job of cooking and serving food is usually done by humans. Over the next few years, however, a lot more robots will start working in restaurants, especially in kitchens. High labour costs are behind this trend, and fast-food restaurants, where efficiency is vital, are leading the way.
A recent study by FT Research looked at how much money restaurants could save by replacing some human workers with robots. In Australia, for example, where the minimum wage is among the highest in the world, a ten per cent reduction in staff (six people in an average restaurant) could save $163,000 a year (based on a 40-hour week).
This means businesses can expect a fast payback on investments in automation technology — like Flippy, a burger-flipping robotic arm that can also operate a chip fryer. Made by the California-based company Miso, Flippy works twice as fast as a human worker with about 30 per cent more output. That certainly gives new meaning to the phrase "well done".