It's official – robots are coming to the commercial kitchen. After the first burger and pizza assembling robots, and the first robotic dishwasher, there is now the first robot-powered food truck staffed by robots.
The robot-powered truck serves smoothies in – where else – Los Angeles. Guests place their orders on a huge touch screen (an app will be launching soon) with drinks dished up in about a minute for under 6 bucks.
While ordering the concoctions may be easy, there is nothing easy about making them – the process involves a self-cleaning blender and over 100 different sensors developed by alumni of Instacart, SpaceX, Tesla, and others.
Ono Food touts several advantages over traditional prep lines for smoothies, including faster service, less waste, better quality control and the ability to customize the smoothie with more options and assistance than in a normal setting.
The truck will serve a different location every day and covers an area from the coast at Venice Beach to just past downtown LA, though the truck is also available for private catering events, something that is bound to be hugely popular with the local tech scene.
While parts of these systems will always need some traditional appliances, the addition of advanced robots and sensors are sure to create a whole new line of opportunities for foodservice repairs. Within the next decade, it might not be all that weird to have a service call to check on a broken robot.
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