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The Boston Restaurant Where Robots Have Replaced the Chefs (washingtonpost.com)
Started by a group of 20-something robotics engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who partnered with Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud, Spyce in downtown Boston is founded on the idea that a fulfilling meal can be more science than spontaneity [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: The restaurant's founders have replaced human chefs with seven automated cooking pots that simultaneously whip up meals in three minutes or less. A brief description of meal preparation -- courtesy of 26-year-old co-founder, Michael Farid -- can sound more like laboratory instructions than conventional cooking. "Once you place your order, we have an ingredient delivery system that collects them from the fridge," Farid said.
"The ingredients are portioned into the correct sizes and then delivered to a robotic wok, where they are tumbled at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The ingredients are cooked and seared. And once the process is complete, the woks tilt downward and put food into a bowl. And then they're ready to be garnished and served." Spyce bills itself as "the world's first restaurant featuring a robotic kitchen that cooks complex meals," a distinction that appears to reference burger-flipping robots like "Flippy," who plied his trade in a California fast food kitchen before being temporary suspended -- because he wasn't working fast enough.
"The ingredients are portioned into the correct sizes and then delivered to a robotic wok, where they are tumbled at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The ingredients are cooked and seared. And once the process is complete, the woks tilt downward and put food into a bowl. And then they're ready to be garnished and served." Spyce bills itself as "the world's first restaurant featuring a robotic kitchen that cooks complex meals," a distinction that appears to reference burger-flipping robots like "Flippy," who plied his trade in a California fast food kitchen before being temporary suspended -- because he wasn't working fast enough.
I'm not sure I agree that stir-fry qualifies as a "complex meal."
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Hopefully they are networking.
It's commonly referred to as "microwave".
They may only be robotic woks, but their friends are everywhere...
I saw that episode of the X-Files.
Have gnu, will travel.
And you don't own anything and have to pay for a hefty yearly "subscription service" or they turn it off. amirite?
This already has a name; it's called a factory. In other news, when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Google Assistant will book a table, and call a self-driving cab to my home. Then my Roomba will board the taxi, go to the robotic restaurant, and orders a meal (probably mabe up of WD40, and other stuff that robots like to eat). And finally everything is billed on *my* credit card, sigh.... -
So, what is their benefit package? Due they get insurance and paid vacation? How about paid sick days?
moley.com has an amazing video of their robochef in action
"Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
If there are no people cooking, who is going to spit in my food?
If I want some slop out of a bag or box in the freezer or from a can I'll go to the grocery store and buy that for I'm sure a fraction of what these jokers are charging for a 'restaurant' 'meal'. Do not want, would not pay for it. If I'm eating out I want a human chef making me something special and nice not some shitty 'robot' making the equivalent of frozen food made in a factory somewhere. And of course what's already been in the works is firing all the waitstaff so all you do is deal with machines the entire time you're at their 'restaurant'. Screw that. There's nothing special about it, there's nothing value-added about it, why would I even bother going out to eat if that's all I'm going to get? May as well stay home and make my own food for the cost of ingredients and watch TV just like always.
I have one question: Is a human required to run the dishwasher station?
The answer determines my sentiments about the whole concept.
http://tvline.com/2018/02/28/t...
In large restaurants, chefs don't actually do the cooking. They plan the meals, order the food, and manage the staff. Chefs are actually managers.
This restaurant likely still has a chef. Instead of managing a kitchen full of cooks, he or she manages robots.
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broccoli'); drop table vegetables;--
a lot of thought and effort goes into making them as quick and dirty as possible so you can "plate" them quickly and make the most profit. That's why most restaurants are built around meat. It freezes well and any idiot can cook it without ruining it.
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Sous-vide accomplishes the same thing.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
There's a special move in stir-frying in a real wok, besides tossing and stirring. Once in a while you have to identify the uncooked bit of a meat and press it down with the tip of the spatula onto the bottom.
Good luck getting diarrhea from AI uncooked chicken.
Automats were a thing and they fell before conventional fast food restaurants. Automated cooking has been tried and repeatably fails on quality, price, and convenience grounds. Hell vending machines are unable to compete with twenty four hour mini-marts on price and convenience! It is bizarre but unless there are major improvements labor elimination in restaurants will not succeed.
For $60 at Walmart, you can get a bread maker, where all you do is dump in the ingredients (wait, that part isn't automatic???), push a button, and two hours later you have fresh baked bread. All you have to do is take it out and slice it (not automatic either).
Maybe by some definition, bread makers are robots. These "robotic chefs" are robots by that same definition.
But if customers complain about the food, will the robots be able to prepare it again and spit in it out of spite?
They've sexed it up by including "Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud". But does anyone think this is going to be the commercial reality of robots in the kitchen? Not bloody likely!
- You could see highly roboticized operations in a fast food joint. The limited choices, structured menus and low cost points all support that;
- You could see specialized robots in fancier restaurants. Here I'm imagining them as a kind of limited sous-chef. Another reference point would be up-rated mixing machines, bread makers, rice cookers, that kind of thing, only with more responsibilities for producing a finished product.
A robot is never gonna evaluate flavours, make new recipes, produce a budget and achieve profitable operation, or any of that. At least not anytime soon. Where current robots fail is in flexibility, creativeness, trading off multiple factors to achieve good outcomes, and all that. Worst of all robots cannot appreciate the food they make. A good chef loves food while a good robot is a dutiful follower of instructions.