food robot roundup

Happy Monday! We’ve got a round-up of recent food robot news to get your week kicked off right.

This month, Singapore-based food robotics firm Ross Digital announced a $4.2 million ($3 million USD) Series A+ round led by food conglomerate Fraser and Neave. According to the company, which makes robotic arms for serving coffee and cocktails, the new funding will be used for product improvement and expansion into Thailand and Malaysia.

Ross Digital sells unmanned robotic baristas that can serve different types of drinks. An accompanying digital platform called Ross Cloud powers its baristas and provides a suite of restaurant solutions such as mobile app, a point-of-sale system, and an ordering kiosk. The company already has 15 units deployed in Singapore and China and aims to put out 40 robotics arms in the markets by the end of 2022. Some of its clients include Razer (whose venture arm also joined the funding round), CNBC, and Alibaba. 

Ross Digital’s expansion is yet another sign of Singapore’s active food robotics landscape. Last August, Stellar lifestyle and Crown Digital teamed up to launch ELLA, another robotic barista that can serve up to 200 cups of coffee an hour. The two companies plan to bring ELLA to 30 Mass Rapid Transit stations by the end of 2022.

The Story of a Stir-Frying Robot

One of my favorite easy meals to cook is stir fry because I just add everything I like in the pan with oil and call myself a chef. It’d be even easier if I could have a cooking robot to do the work, and if researchers from Idiap Research Institute in Switzerland, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Wuhan University have anything to say about it, someday I just might.

That’s because these researchers have taught a robot how to make the stir fry motion. The three labs have been collaborating for about 10 years with a specific interest in teaching robots to prepare food for people. Junjia Liu, one of the researchers, noted that “Food preparation and cooking are two crucial activities in the household, and a robot chef that can follow arbitrary recipes and cook automatically would be practical and bring a new interactive entertainment experience.”

Researchers were able to achieve this feat by decoupling the two arms of the robot into a leader and a follower and teaching them separately through machine learning. The two arms were then combined through general bimanual coordination and movements were subsequently adjusted automatically by giving visual feedback of the contents of the pan. The robot was able to complete the motions of stir-fry, but the paper doesn’t mention whether the robot was successful with heat, which is likely the next step. 

This isn’t the first time robots have dabbled in stir fry. Spyce, the robotic restaurant acquired by Sweetgreen, also served stir fry prepared by robots. Instead of using robotic arms, Spyce stir fry system utilized rotating compartments that cook and dispense stir fry. Spyce later pivoted to a different food robot that involved placing dishes on a conveyor belt that ran underneath dispensers that portioned out warm and cold ingredients. 

Grubhub and Cartken Head to School

Grubhub announced a partnership with Cartken, a maker of self-driving AI-power robotics and delivery operator, to bring robots to college campuses around the US. The partnership will allow Grubhub to leverage Cartken’s artificial intelligence and camera-based navigation and mapping technology. The robots operate at up to 3 miles per hour on campus and can handle various weather conditions including rain and snow, perfect for the Ohio climate they tested in. 

Grubhub and Cartken piloted the robots at Ohio State University this spring and are planning a full rollout in the fall. College campuses are the most saturated area for food delivery startups to test and operate in. Kiwibot announced plans to enroll in 50 college campuses by the end of 2022 and Starship Technologies is already enrolled at over 20 campuses. 

In Grubhub, Cartken finds a partner already well-entrenched on college campuses. The food delivery company already works with more than 250 college campuses across the U.S. where it integrates directly with meal plans so that students can access on and off-campus restaurants for delivery and pickup.

In this week’s food robot roundup, a robot gets its taste buds, delivery robot legislation marches forward and the impact of robots on jobs on college campuses.

Robot chef finds its taste buds 

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have trained a robot “chef” to taste food at different stages of the chewing process and evaluate the taste to become better cooks. A probe attached to a robot arm acts like a saltiness sensor which the robot used to “taste” the dish as researchers varied the number of tomatoes, saltiness, and texture of the egg. The robot then tasted nine different variations of scrambled eggs and tomatoes at 3 different stages of the chewing process and then produced taste maps of each dish. In order to recreate the chewing experience, researchers used a blender to process the food. The robot was able to produce taste maps for each stage of the chewing process to better understand the flavor profile of the dish and assess the saltiness of the dish more quickly and accurately. 

Study co-author Dr. Arsen Abdulali explained the significance of their achievement: “Current methods of electronic testing only take a single snapshot to form a homogenized sample, so we wanted to replicate a more realistic process of chewing and tasting in a robotic system, which should result in a tastier end product.” In the future, researchers are considering investigating the effect of saliva on taste by using chemical reagents in the sample to mimic the enzymes present in human saliva. 

One eventual application of this technology is personalization. Much like how human chefs are able to make modifications to what they cook based on the diner’s preferences, robots that can taste and understand flavor and consistency may be able to adapt how they cook later down the road. 

Lawmakers bring delivery robots to Rhode Island

Autonomous delivery startups typically expand their areas of operation state by state, but states vary in the rules and regulations they have toward autonomous vehicles. 

In Rhode Island, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives are sponsoring autonomous delivery bills that will allow unmanned vehicles to operate in streets and sidewalks. Despite the increasing popularity of delivery robots in other states like Texas and California, some are not optimistic about the prospect of Rhode Island’s adoption. In the past, similar legislation has not passed the General Assembly and the Division of Motor Vehicles has expressed opposition to robots in neighborhoods. The main concerns from the recent Senate hearing deliberating this new legislation include worries that delivery robots could damage pedestrian infrastructure with their heavy weight and fear that they could take away jobs from people. 

Other concerns include possibly obstructing wheelchair users or those who are visually impaired or deaf. There have also been reports of accidents between robots and cars and trucks.  Right now, legislation differs on municipal, state, and national levels, and in the past decade, at least 20 US states have passed laws with explicit regulation on delivery robot operation in regards to weight, cargo, sidewalk speed, and liability coverage.

For example in Pennsylvania, the legislation establishes design and safety standards and classifies autonomous delivery devices as pedestrians with the same rights as people, except for a few limitations. However, although legislation within a state standardizes operation with that state, there is still much variation between states. The speed limit for a robot on a sidewalk is 12 mph in Pennsylvania, 7pmh in Maryland, and 6 mph in Washington, which can make it difficult for startups operating across state borders to scale. Some are even calling for an international standard since some startups operate across borders. For example, Starship Technologies, which has robots on over 20 US college campuses in 15 states, is based in Estonia. 

As for Rhode Island, lawmakers are still debating legislation that would allow robots to make deliveries, but this is just an example of a challenge that robot delivery startups are facing when it comes to expanding to new places. 

Robots deliver jobs, not just food, to university students

College campuses are a popular launchpad for food delivery robots because of the concentration of customers that are tech-savvy and eager for a quick and convenient meal. While one ongoing concern about robotics is their potential to displace workers, the addition of delivery robots is having the opposite effect on some college campuses. At OSU, for example, robots have increased the number of on-campus jobs at most restaurants because it’s a full-time position to place food orders in the machine and send it off. In fact, this new job is called “Robot Runner” and another component is packing the order. 

It’s unclear whether delivery robots are creating a net number of new jobs since they are replacing people who would otherwise make deliveries via bike or car. However, drivers are now traveling to customers farther away, with an increase in mileage of 43%. Delivery robots offer the opportunity for restaurants to reach a larger market and increase their sales, thus increasing a demand for labor at the restaurant itself. 

Despite the net positive effect robots may be having in some college towns, they are not always well received. Two UT Austin students have been charged with vandalism after intentionally damaging a Starship delivery robot by slamming it onto the ground. Both students are facing a count of felony vandalism of over $2,500 since it costs $5,500 to replace a robot. While it’s difficult to discern the motive of the students, thankfully the occurrence of some incidents is extremely low as this is the first recorded incident of intentional damage done to a delivery robot on a college campus.

As Spoon readers know, food robots are everywhere nowadays. So to keep you current on all the goings-on in this fast-moving market, we’re launching a weekly roundup of the top stories at the intersection of food and automation. Let’s get to it.

Metal and medals

Photo: NBC Sports

This video from Reuters shows the futuristic robotics used at the Winter Olympics this year. In an effort to minimize human contact and reduce the spread of the coronavirus, China has installed robot waiters and bartenders to prepare and deliver food in the main media center. Food can be ordered by scanning a code with your phone, but perhaps the most futuristic is the tracks running along the ceiling, where orders are lifted straight from the automated kitchen and lowered to tables. 

It’s been interesting to see how the rest of the world has reacted to the robots in China. Eastern cultures tend to be more accepting of robot technology while some western media outlets have covered it with a more dystopian perspective. But having robots at the Olympics isn’t a new concept. The mascots for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were robots and the Games utilized robots in several ways to make events more efficient and safe. So as the Winter Olympics kick off, I’ll be watching the athletes compete but thinking about the robots behind the scenes that make their lives easier. 

Apples and Oranges

Wavemaker Labs acquired Abundant Robotics’ IP last year, adding to its portfolio of seed to fork robotics that also includes the likes of Miso Robotics, Future Acres, and Nommi. The company is now incorporated as Abundant Robots, Inc and is part of the Wavemaker Labs portfolio.

Now, they are seeking equity crowdfunding to raise money to leverage existing technology to build a new apple-picking robot. The goal is to use the computer vision and machine learning technology that was acquired to build a cheaper and more efficient apple-picking robot.  

Many of Wavemaker’s other portfolio companies have also used equity crowdfunding to raise capital (Piestro just launched its third campaign). Equity crowdfunding can serve as a way to give consumers a vested interest in the success of the venture and can be used as a way to market the company as well. Outside of Future Acres, most of Wavemaker’s companies have been more consumer-focused than Abundant Robots. Since Abundant Robots is a highly technical venture and consumers won’t be interacting with it directly, it’ll be interesting to see how Wavemaker applies the same funding strategy they use for consumer-facing products. 

Share the roads

Founded by two ex-Google Car/Waymo employees, Nuro announced that they have finalized the development of their third-generation driverless delivery vehicles, called “Nuro.” Nuro is 20% smaller in width than the average passenger car and designed to operate on the roads, unlike other delivery robots like Starship and Serve Robotics that operate on the sidewalks (more on those later). 

However, unlike autonomous vehicles like Waymo, Nuro doesn’t house any passengers. Instead, it contains two modular cargo compartments that hold food and can be changed between heating and cooling what’s inside. Because Nuro doesn’t hold any passengers, it’s cheaper to build and the company recently announced that they are building factories to begin production. Additionally, Nuro doesn’t have to sacrifice passenger comfort for safety and even features an external airbag to protect pedestrians and cyclists. 

While the hybrid between autonomous vehicle and delivery robot is unique, perhaps the most fascinating use case for Nuro is as a roving grocery store. A photo in the announcement video shows Nuro stocked with fresh produce. It’ll be interesting to see if this new technology is leveraged by grocery stores as they implement their dark grocery store strategies. 

Starship to the moon

Starship Technologies, the San Francisco based autonomous delivery robot company, just received €50 million from the European Investment Bank, the funding arm of the European Union. Although the company launched in 2017, demand skyrocketed (no pun intended) during the pandemic when customers were staying at home or minimizing their contact with other people. Since then, it’s made more than 2.4 million commercial deliveries and traveled over 3 million miles globally. 

In case you missed it: Food robotics coverage from the Spoon

• Bolk, a French robotics startup that makes bowls, announced on Friday that it has raised €4 million in funding. 
• Yo-kai’s self-driving ramen vending robot will be making an appearance at the Super Bowl pre-party in LA next week. 
• Pizza Hut and Hyper Robotics teamed up to launch a fully automated containerized pizzeria in the parking lot of a mall in Bnei Dror, a city in central Israel. 
• Serve Robotics recently announced that the company’s sidewalk delivery robot has reached Level 4 autonomy.