Foodservice
Miso Robotics introduces Flippy robotic kitchen assistant
October 6, 2020
Miso Robotics has announced commercial availability of the Flippy Robot-on-a-Rail, a zero-footprint, intelligent robotic kitchen assistant for commercial kitchens, according to a press release. Flippy ROAR provides cooking capabilities to quickly learn menu items.
Miso Robotics previously unveiled a prototype enabling Flippy to glide across multiple workstations on a rail. The final design mounts Flippy on an overhead rail, keeping it out of the path of kitchen staff to increase safety and throughput by interacting with a food hopper capable of dispensing the perfect amount of food food for preparation before moving to the cooking station.
Backend advancements to ChefUI, Miso Robotics' proprietary software, assist kitchen workers with operational interactions and workflows through a dashboard view of the web-based application displayed on a 15.6-inch touchscreen monitor mounted on the ROAR system.
Through the dashboard, employees can see the foods in line to be prepared next. Capable of identifying current temperatures, predicting time remaining to meet consistency in taste perfection, and alerting staff of unsafe internal cooking temperatures, ROAR features image processing and depth perception from Intel RealSense technology.
ChefUI can not only identify food and temperatures, but can also learn and reclassify new foods introduced to Flippy. Staff can also opt to change cooking times and alter portion sizes for foods coming out of the hopper to map back to customer customization requests.
Flippy ROAR makes new advances in machine learning to quickly adapt to new menu items — jumping to include 19 (and counting) total food items to its frying abilities, and adding the Impossible Burger to Flippy ROAR's grilling skillset.
With a different patty make-up than the traditional burger, Impossible Burgers require special cooking care to lock in the flavor and taste that has escalated them as a new menu item favorite across quick service restaurant chains and independent operators. The combination of advanced computer vision and deep learning software Miso Robotics has brought to its latest design is able to account for differences in texture and thickness of the Impossible Burger, in real-time, adjusting grilling technique to achieve perfection.
Miso Robotics will also evolve its robot-as-a-service model to include cheaper upfront cost Flippy ROAR and a manageable monthly software fee for operators.
Miso Robotics plans to offer financing options through TimePayments to empower foodservice providers to quickly adopt automation technology as the need for enhanced health and safety standards and improved margins as delivery and takeout increase.
