Zach Rash wanted to be a professional surfer. So much so, that in high school, there was more surfing than academics. That all changed when Rash reached UCLA and met Brad Squicciarini. It wasn’t long before the two spent every waking hour together in a small room building robots. “We spent like our entire life…
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Chef Robotics has raised $43.1 million in a Series A round to accelerate deployment of its AI-powered food assembly robots, the company announced today. The funding brings the San Francisco-based startup’s total capital to over $65 million, including equipment financing. Avataar led the round, with participation from Construct Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and others. Founded in…
Five years ago, the cofounders behind Bridge Appliances stood in line at a busy breakfast cafe. As minutes ticked by, frustration turned into inspiration. They wondered: What if the preparation of eggs could be automated? That simple question led to the creation of OMM, a countertop egg-making robot. Now, half a decade later, the Bridge…
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Last month in Las Vegas, we sat down with one of our favorite restaurateurs, Lee Kindell of MOTO Pizza, to discuss his vision for the future of restaurants. Lee was in town to speak onstage at CES about the industry’s direction, so we made sure to catch up with him for a one-on-one interview. One…
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While many tech entrepreneurs dream of retiring as a gentleman farmer, Tim Bucher’s journey took the opposite trajectory. It was only after he bought and started working on his own farm at age 16 that a young Bucher discovered his love for software programming in college. That realization embarked him on a career that would…
Late last week, LG Electronics announced it had acquired a majority stake in Bear Robotics, increasing its ownership of the San Francisco-based startup from 21% to 51%. According to South Korean newspaper The Dong-A Ilbo, LG initially acquired its 21% stake in early 2024 for $60 million. The company values its latest stake at $180…
Last week, Anova announced the second generation of its Precision Oven, just over four years after it began to ship the first generation Precision Oven. The Anova Precision Oven 2.0 is packed with a number of new features, including an in-oven camera and Anova Intelligence, a suite of new AI features designed to power new…
Sidewalk robotic delivery Starship Technologies announced this week they are teaming up with Bolt, a European multiplatform delivery company, to launch a new food delivery service using Starship’s autonomous robots in Tallinn, Estonia. The launch, centered in Tallinn, has the potential to reach up to 180,000 residents according to Bolt. Starship’s robots will operate from…
In the most recent episode of the Spoon Podcast, I caught up with food scientist Ali Bouzari to discuss his work and get his thoughts on new technologies that are helping to shape the future of food. I first met Bouzari when he spoke at the Culinary Institute of America a few years ago about…
Serve Robotics Inc. and Wing Aviation announced a pilot program this week that will combine their delivery methods to extend the reach of restaurant deliveries across densely populated urban areas. According to the announcement, Serve’s robots will collect orders from restaurant curbsides and transport them to Wing’s AutoLoader hubs, where Wing’s drones will carry the…