DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY
couple of years ago when former McDonald ’ s CEO Ed Rensi claimed that increases in the US minimum wage would make it cheaper for food retailers to use robotic arms instead of humans . Amyx suggests there is a lot more going on in this area than most of the general public might think .
“ It ’ s actually very pervasive ,” he says , when considering the penetration of robotics and AI . “ More pervasive than the mainstream realises . For example , one of the cruise lines ( Royal Caribbean Cruises ) actually has a fully automated bar mixer , so the robotic arms are able to make any type of cocktail , and it ’ s amazing to watch .
“ There are robotics chefs in production , actually able to make a hamburger from beginning to end , and there are even startups that are providing home robotics – machines able to make an incredible number of recipes , and handle the ingredients and the whole cooking process . Instead of meticulous programming , the robot uses computer vision to watch hours and hours of the master chefs cooking and simply follows that movement .
“ Even fast food chains are
recognising that in the long run it just makes more sense to have these robotic arms – more refined than you would think of on factory floors – and the ability for them to work very small scale , with incredible accuracy and speed , is absolutely amazing .”
Amyx feels that the advancements we are seeing in robotics , which are greater than ever before , dovetail perfectly with the food industry ’ s
46 June 2018