Miso Robotics in Pasadena, California, has started rolling out its 'Flippy 2' robot, cutting the human out of a big chunk of the cooking process in fast-food restaurants.
Miso says the machine can cook several meals with different recipes, simultaneously removing the need for catering staff and speeding up the process at drive-thrus.
Flippy 2's robotic arm - similar to those seen in car plants and manufacturing - is powered by cameras and artificial intelligence.
It can do everything from taking frozen French fries, onion rings and other foods from the freezer, to cooking them in oil, before depositing them ready for serving.
Mike Bell is CEO of Miso Robotics:
"When an order comes in through the restaurant system, it automatically spits out the instructions to 'Flippy', takes a frozen product, fries it for the precise amount of time, and puts the finished product in the end. It does it faster, more accurately, more reliably and happier than most humans do it."
The original 'Flippy' was designed to flip burgers.
But after speaking to restaurants, Miso Robotics realized that there was more of a need around the frying station, particularly late at night.
"It's the position that's often hardest to fill, it's hardest to retain. And so it really doesn't take anything away from restaurant workers. In reality, they're delighted to have the help, so they can do other things."
Miso Robotics' 90 engineers are not only re-imagining the food-making process, but also drinks.
"This is Sippy. This is actually the inner workings of Sippy. Sippy will be able to take an order from a customer and put out a perfectly poured drink with a lid on it and a straw and all group together."
"What's happened is this technology has quickly caught up and is now solving these problems back-of-house, very reliably. / "There'll be a point in time when humans walk into a restaurant and look at a robot and say 'hey, remember the old days when humans used to do that kind of thing? And those days, it's coming.. It's just a matter of, you know, how quick."
