Meet Flippy, the world's first burger-flipping robot

(Image credit: Screenshot/Vimeo/Miso Robotics)

published 5 March 2018

Artificial intelligence is poised to enter yet another aspect of your life: fast food. After years of preparation, a burger-flipping robot named Flippy made its debut on Monday at the Pasadena, California, location of the restaurant chain CaliBurger. Created by a tech startup called Miso Robotics, Flippy is the "first robotic kitchen assistant with artificial assistance."

CaliBurger is planning to install Flippy in 50 more of its locations. Each one costs about $60,000, Miso Robotics told local news station KTLA. The company has received $10 million in funding to bring Flippy to other restaurants as well, Tech Crunch reported.

If you're worried about robots taking more jobs, though, don't worry: Flippy still needs human coworkers to function, at least for now. Only once a human puts raw patties on the grill can it begin working. Equipped with thermal vision in addition to a regular camera, Flippy can detect exactly what stage of cooking the meat is at, allowing it to grill about 150 burgers in an hour, NPR reported. Once the meat is cooked, a human can add the toppings.

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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.

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