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Chipotle Mexican Grill She developed a robot that can slice, core and peel avocados used in guacamole as the restaurant industry faces a constant labor shortage.
Today, it takes nearly 50 minutes to make a batch of chipotle guacamole. But the autocado unveiled Wednesday could cut prep time in half.
The fast-casual series developed the collaborative robot, or cobot, in partnership with Vebu Labs, a California-based robotics startup. Chipotle also announced Wednesday that its $50 million investment arm, Cultivate Next, is investing in Vebu. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Avocados are sliced, pitted, and peeled by an Autocado robot built by Chipotle and Vebu Labs.
Source: Chipotle Mexican Grill
The announcements come as the company and its competitors have experimented with bots and other forms of automation. The broader restaurant industry is suffering from a shrinking workforce and rising wages.
sweet green He recently opened a location in Naperville, Illinois, where he makes salads and warm bowls on an automated assembly line. Starbucks Invest in coffee-making equipment that creates less work for experts. Fast food chains such as Carl’s Jr. Artificial intelligence programs to receive orders from the vehicle.
How does Autocado Chipotle work?
To prepare avocados with the Autocado, Chipotle employees load the machine with a case full of ripe fruit. The autocado can hold up to 25 lbs at one time.
Next, the machine vertically orients the avocado, slices it in half and removes the core and skin. A bowl at the bottom collects the fruit, which employees can then puree and mix with the rest of the guacamole ingredients.
Chipotle still wants employees to have a hand in making their own guacamole.
“There is no plan to test the robotic jack made in our restaurant,” Curt Garner, Chipotle’s chief technology officer, told CNBC.
Employees don’t have to monitor the Autocado while preparing the avocado and can even use the top of the machine as more space to prep other ingredients.
According to Garner, the prototype is “very close” to design for manufacturing. Chipotle expects to test Autocado in restaurants later this year.
Eventually, Vebu plans to add machine learning capabilities and sensors to Autocado that will help it evaluate the quality of avocados.
Preparing avocados for guacamole routinely ranks as one of employees’ least favorite tasks, Garner said. It’s also one of the most dangerous tasks in Chipotle kitchens, sometimes resulting in knife injuries.
On top of saving time and labor costs, the robot can also reduce food waste. If the chain spreads Autocado across more than 3,200 locations, the company said, it could help save millions of dollars on avocados annually.
Despite these savings, guacamole will likely cost customers extra.
“It’s totally worth it,” Garner said.
Chipotle is testing automation for other kitchen tasks. Since September, one of the company’s California locations has been using Chippy, a standalone tortilla chip maker built by Miso Robotics, a subsidiary of Vebu.
“We have a few more months of this restaurant testing before we make an official decision as to whether there is more remodeling that needs to be done or if (Chibi) is ready to go to a different restaurant,” Garner said.
Garner added that the company is exploring more opportunities to automate ingredient preparation and use artificial intelligence to predict how much food to prepare.
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