FOOD The future of fast food? 'RoboBurger' Vending Machine Opens in New Jersey

Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
And finally, many decades after I first heard this "dream" described in food service meetings in the 1970s, the Robo-food dispensers and robo-chefs actually start to be put in place. This one does just one thing and is a vending machine. Right now these are too expensive for most places to use but that will change if this catches on - the question is, will consumers use them?...

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'RoboBurger' VENDING MACHINE opens in New Jersey

The RoboBurger vending machine has opened in Jersey City, serving up fresh burgers in six minutes for just $6.99 (£5.30).
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The future of fast food? 'RoboBurger' VENDING MACHINE opens in New Jersey, serving up fresh patties in six minutes for $6.99
  • The RoboBurger vending machine has opened in Jersey City
  • It uses articial intelligence to cook up custom burgers in just six minutes
  • Its developers describe the vending machine as a 'restaurant in miniature'
By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:19, 31 March 2022 | UPDATED: 11:03, 31 March 2022


From cupcakes to pizzas, a range of weird and wonderful vending machines have opened in recent years.

Now, a burger vending machine has opened in Jersey City, serving up fresh burgers in six minutes for just $6.99 (£5.30).
Its developers describe the vending machine as a 'restaurant in miniature', and say it follows a similar process to what chefs use to cook up burgers in traditional restaurants.

'RoboBurger is like having a personal chef for 6 minutes, that dedicates all its attention to making your burger, with the perfectly grilled patty, and a crispy, fresh toasted bun,' they said.
A burger vending machine has opened in Jersey City, serving up fresh burgers in six minutes for just $6.99 (£5.30)

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A burger vending machine has opened in Jersey City, serving up fresh burgers in six minutes for just $6.99



How does it work?
The vending machine uses artificial intelligence to cook up custom burgers, using a five-step process:
  1. The robot dispenses the patty on the griddle and grills it on both sides
  2. It toasts the bun
  3. It dispenses the condiment selection
  4. The robot assembles the burger
  5. RoboBurger delivers the burger to user


The vending machine uses artificial intelligence to cook up custom burgers, using a five-step process.
'RoboBurger is an artificially intelligent, self-operating and patented kitchen designed to include all of the processes of a restaurant at a fraction of the size,' its developers explained.

The front of the vending machine features a touchscreen, where customers can select their toppings and condiments.
Once the order has been placed, the robot dispenses the patty on the griddle, grilling it on both sides.

Next, the bun is toasted, before the selected condiments and toppings are dispensed.

Finally, the robot assembles the burger, before delivering it the customer.

While you might expect such a device to require a deep clean after use, the developers say the vending machine is self-cleaning.

'The robot is equipped with a complex, miniature kitchen consisting of a refrigeration system to keep ingredients fresh, a griddle to cook and a dishwasher system to allow the unit to self-clean, making it the first machine of its kind,' they said.

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The front of the vending machine features a touchscreen, where customers can select their toppings and condiments

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The front of the vending machine features a touchscreen, where customers can select their toppings and condiments
Its developers describe the vending machine as a 'restaurant in miniature', and say it uses a similar process to what chefs use to cook up burgers in traditional restaurants

+6
View gallery
Its developers describe the vending machine as a 'restaurant in miniature', and say it uses a similar process to what chefs use to cook up burgers in traditional restaurants

In terms of the ingredients themselves, the vending machine only uses the 'highest quality meat' and 'artisinal buns'.

'We always use only grass and vegetarian fed 100% Angus Beef, always antibiotic free, raised with no artificial growth hormones,' they added.
The burger vending machine isn't the only food-based device revealed in recent weeks.

A Swiss team has been working away on Bouebot, a robot that can whip up the perfect cheese fondue.
Once the order has been placed, the robot dispenses the patty on the griddle, grilling it on both sides. Next, the bun is toasted, before the selected condiments and toppings are dispensed. Finally, the robot assembles the burger, before delivering it the customer

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View gallery
Once the order has been placed, the robot dispenses the patty on the griddle, grilling it on both sides. Next, the bun is toasted, before the selected condiments and toppings are dispensed. Finally, the robot assembles the burger, before delivering it the customer
In terms of the ingredients themselves, the vending machine only uses the 'highest quality meat' and 'artisinal buns'

+6
View gallery
In terms of the ingredients themselves, the vending machine only uses the 'highest quality meat' and 'artisinal buns'

The robot, which cost up to £240,000 ($325,000) to develop, pours white wine into a classic fondue mix of Vacherin Fribourgeois and Gruyere.
Bouebot next does some figure-of-eight stirring as the cheese melts, then sprinkles in some pepper to finish off.

It then picks up a metal spike, pierces a piece of bread, and places it in a holder for fondue-lovers to try before the gooey cheese drips down.
The bot is being developed by a team at Workshop 4.0, based in Sierre, who manoevre it using a control pad.
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Versions of these machines have been around since the 1930s, which was also covered in some of the stuff I heard in meetings in the 1970s. But the public in general rejected them for anything but specific types of places like hospitals or bus stations, vastly preferring fresh food made by people and voting with their wallets.

Technology is now improving to the point that a lot of "made while you wait" food can be produced by machines, which as Marth pointed out has been done in the past but only on a very limited scale. Most people preferred to buy their Rotisserie Chicken from the supermarket than a vending machine, a busy urban center like Paris might also have a market from the machines but in most places consumers tended to ignore them.

When the real "revolution" will happen, "if we get there" (which is a good point) is when the machines are able to "multi-task) so you get your burger, fries and a coke - not just a burger out of the hatch. They will also have to become much-cheaper and prove to be popular before corporations and franchises will totally move over in that direction; but they probably will eventually.

But as long as you only get "a burger" or "a fondue with a lump of bread" out of the machine, interest is likely to be limited at best once the novelty wears off.

However, The Dream, of the Fast-Food Industy of the 1970s was the "fully automated shop" with two employees - one to keep everything running and interact with the public; the other for clean up and security. They really preferred "the one person shop" but realized that in urban areas there would be two many security issues to make that viable - one person still has to go to the bathroom sometime and that leaves the place open to theft or vandalism.
 
Blacknarwhal

Blacknarwhal

Let's Go Brandon!
Melodi said:
Versions of these machines have been around since the 1930s, which was also covered in some of the stuff I heard in meetings in the 1970s. But the public in general rejected them for anything but specific types of places like hospitals or bus stations, vastly preferring fresh food made by people and voting with their wallets.

Technology is now improving to the point that a lot of "made while you wait" food can be produced by machines, which as Marth pointed out has been done in the past but only on a very limited scale. Most people preferred to buy their Rotisserie Chicken from the supermarket than a vending machine, a busy urban center like Paris might also have a market from the machines but in most places consumers tended to ignore them.

When the real "revolution" will happen, "if we get there" (which is a good point) is when the machines are able to "multi-task) so you get your burger, fries and a coke - not just a burger out of the hatch. They will also have to become much-cheaper and prove to be popular before corporations and franchises will totally move over in that direction; but they probably will eventually.

But as long as you only get "a burger" or "a fondue with a lump of bread" out of the machine, interest is likely to be limited at best once the novelty wears off.

However, The Dream, of the Fast-Food Industy of the 1970s was the "fully automated shop" with two employees - one to keep everything running and interact with the public; the other for clean up and security. They really preferred "the one person shop" but realized that in urban areas there would be two many security issues to make that viable - one person still has to go to the bathroom sometime and that leaves the place open to theft or vandalism.
Click to expand...

If you haven't already, read Marshall Brain's "Manna." It deals with the concept of fast food automation run amok.

Manna – Two Views of Humanity’s Future – Chapter 1 | MarshallBrain.com

marshallbrain.com marshallbrain.com
 
Haybails

Haybails

When In Doubt, Throttle Out!
My thoughts on just this one specific scenario (a burger making robotic vending machine).

If the machine was built with clear glass viewing port (so I could see the cleanliness of the griddle, the burger actually being fried, onions & tomatoes being sliced, etc.) and digital thermometer readout of the griddle AND piece of meat . . . I might (MIGHT) give it a try. My personal aversion to the concept as pictured in the original post is simply not being able to SEE it being made. I mean, in this particular instance, if the meat is grilled to a healthy temperature, the bun and 'fixins' are clean and healthy . . . I don't know, I might give it a try.

I guess my hesitancy might be something like, "How do I know it's clean?" I know that's no different than a local restaurant (how do I know that's clean - not to mention the cleanliness, or lack thereof, of the humans working there) . . . but, I'm just trying to figure out this robo-vending-grill scenario.

HB
 
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