Walmart Is Reportedly Testing a Burger-Flipping Robot (yahoo.com)

Flippy, a burger-flipping robot that's been trialed in a number of restaurants this year, is coming to Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, to see whether or not it's the right fit for its in-store delis. Yahoo News reports: Flippy is the world's first autonomous robotic kitchen assistant powered by artificial intelligence from Miso Robotics, a two-year-old startup. Flippy got a gig at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with vending food service company Levy Restaurants, part of Compass Group, to fry up chicken tenders and tater tots. Through the World Series, Flippy churned out 17,000 pounds worth of the fried foods. It's able to fry up to eight baskets of food simultaneously. "Walmart saw what we were doing and said, 'Could you bring Flippy from Dodgers Stadium to our Culinary Institute?'" Miso Robotics CEO David Zito told Yahoo Finance.

In practice, a Walmart associate would place a frozen product on the rack. Using visual recognition technology, Flippy identifies the food in the basket and sets it in the cooking oil. The machine then "agitates" the basket by shaking it to make sure the product cooks evenly. When the food is finished cooking, Flippy moves the basket to the drip rack. An associate then tests the food's internal temperature. A few minutes later, the associate can season the food before it hits the hot display case. The reason Walmart is looking at the robot is so it can do some of the more mundane and repetitive tasks at the deli. The robot is supposed to serve as an "extra set of hands," letting the associate spend less time putting potato wedges and chicken tenders in fryers and more time on other services like taking customer orders and prepping other foods.

Comments

You vote with your dollars

[Solandri]

People love to blame companies or executives for things like this, when it's their own damn fault. Top-level executives may make the decision to try out ideas like this, but whether the idea succeeds ultimately depends on what the customers do.

• If customers predominantly value conversing with the people preparing their food as you theorize, then this idea will flop.
• OTOH if customers would rather have a burger which costs 10 cents less, then this idea will take off and the human burger flippers will lose their jobs.

You don't just vote in elections. Every time you buy something, you're voting with your dollars. Businesses just chase your dollars. Ultimately it's you who determines what direction companies and executives take. It just doesn't feel like you're in control because like with elections, nearly half the people lose almost half the time. Walmart grew into the behemoth it is because people preferred to buy cheap Chinese products rather than more expensive American-made products. If you think Americans are buying Chinese-made goods because Walmart opted to carry them instead of American-made goods, you have cause and effect reversed.