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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

robot kitchen

Watch Nala Robotics’ Robot Chef in Action

A restaurant that can serve millions of different dishes, is open 24/7, and doesn’t close on holidays sounds like a dream, right? After three years in the making, Nala Robotics has made this dream a reality with its fully automated robot kitchen that opened on November 11th in Naperville, Illinois.

The first automated restaurant/kitchen by Nala Robotics is called One Mean Chicken, and it serves wings and fried chicken. It is manned by multiple robots powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, which do not need human intervention to function. Without the need for humans, Nala’s restaurant can operate throughout the day and night, on holidays, and without social distancing considerations.

Watch this video to see the robots preparing food:

Recipes can be uploaded by the user to the recipes catalog, and the robots can learn to make any dish within just a few minutes. This easily gives restaurant concepts the opportunity to offer multiple cuisines under one roof.

Nala’s use of articulating robotic arms to do everything from prep, cook, and more while handling a variety of cookware and utensils is reminiscent of Moley’s chef robot, which the UK-based company announced general availability for last year. Unlike Moley, Nala is exclusively targeted for commercial foodservice applications, whereas Moley is targeted both towards high-end residential installations in addition to commercial applications.

According to Ajay Sunkara, the founder and CEO of Nala Robotics, “Being AI-powered, the robotic chef gets better and better every single day. The more it cooks, the more it’s going to learn and master these recipes.”

Restaurants around the country have been facing major labor shortages in 2021 due to the aftermath of the pandemic, and over 25 percent have reported that they are struggling to hire line cooks. Automated kitchens like Nala, and others such as Mezli, Spyce, and Cala may prove to be a viable solution to these ongoing shortages.

Nala Robotics will soon open two more restaurant concepts in the same location as One Mean Chicken (in Naperville’s Mall of India). The next to be launched will be Nala’s Thai 76 (Thai food) and then Surya Tiffins (South Indian food). In 2022, Nala plans to open 10 restaurant locations, and then 100 locations by 2024.

Moley’s Robotic Kitchen Goes on Sale

Moley’s robotic kitchen first burst onto the scene in 2015, wowing audiences at CES Asia with its science fiction-levels of cooking automation. Now after more than five years of development, the Moley is finally going on sale. But the kitchen of tomorrow is not going to be cheap.

It’s probably best to set the stage first. Getting a Moley requires a lot more work than just bolting a robotic arm above your existing stove. It’s an entirely integrated system of appliances, cupboards, a touchscreen, storage containers, pots, pans, utensils, a protective screen and yes, two articulating arms with robotic hands. The Moley basically takes up one entire wall of a kitchen.

Once it’s installed, or more accurately, built, into your kitchen, there’s a little bit of set up for a person to do. Ingredients needs to go into special containers and identified in the system so the robot knows where to retrieve them. Utensils and pots are placed in special storage areas that slide out of view when not in use. But once all that’s done, the digital smarts and robot take over.

Using the built-in touchscreen, the user selects from one of 5,000 (and growing) recipes. A clear, protective screen drops down and the two robotic arms slide out from their storage on a rail up above to start grabbing the pots, pans and utensils it needs. The robot can fill a pot with water in the sink, turn on the induction burner and then, using sensors and cameras, retrieve all the ingredients it needs to make the dish. Moley will even let you know when you’re running low on a particular ingredient.

The robotic arm’s movements even have some pedigree. Tim Anderson, a former BBC Master Chef winner, “trained” the robot’s movements by recording his techniques in 3D, which were then translated into specific algorithms for the machine. It’s not hard to imagine Moley enlisting other chefs down the road and offering different downloads so you could have “Nigella Lawson,” or “Marcus Samuelsson” cooking your meals.

Listen. It’s a super complex piece of high-technology and perhaps the best way to grok it is to see it in action in this in-depth launch video that Moley put out this week:

Moley Robotics First Product Launch 2020

The Moley kitchen is also a hybrid of sorts. If you prefer to do the cooking, you can keep the robot in its closet and do all the work yourself. Though, at these prices, I imagine you’d want to put that robot to work.

Moley is targeting both residential and commercial kitchens with its launch. Make that, very expensive residential kitchens. A base Moley kitchen without the robotic arms will cost you £128,000 (~ $173,000 USD) and a unit with the robotic arms will cost £248,000 (~ $335,000 USD).

Moley CEO and Founder, Mark Oleynik, told The Spoon in a phone interview this week that the first customer will be receiving their Moley robotic kitchen next year. (No further details were offered).

Oleynik also put the high price of the Moley into some perspective by likening it to a dishwasher. When those were first introduced, they were expensive and most people didn’t think they were necessary. Now dishwashers are affordable, mainstream and play a key role in our kitchen lives.

Oleynik also envisions a future where his robotic kitchen can help the elderly age in place. With just a few taps on a screen, people of any age can have a homecooked, fresh meal prepared on the spot. It’s the same vision Sony has for its take on the future of kitchen robotics.

Samsung is also working on an articulating arm-based kitchen robot, and Oleynik welcomes the competition with a philosophy that a rising tide lifts all robotic kitchen boats.

The Moley is available for purchase now, and if any Spoon reader does get one, may we recommend pairing it with the WineCab Wine Wall robotic sommelier for the ultimate in futuristic dining.

Spyce Gets a Patent for its Robot Restaurant

Spyce received a patent this week for its robot-run restaurant. Patent number US 10,154,762 B was awarded to Spyce on December 18 for “Automated Meal Production System and Apparatus.”

The patent is filled with the requisite mechanical drawings and legalese, but there were a couple of things that stood out. From the patent filing:

The invention provides a fast food restaurant/kitchen concept or kiosk with drastically reduced overhead costs. This is possible by automating the entire meal production system, therefore eliminating the need for onsite employees and reducing the space required for the restaurant.

As my colleague, Mike Wolf, found out earlier this year, the Spyce restaurant in Boston still relied on humans to help explain the newfangled automated concept to customers as well as finish up the food once it was cooked by the robot. Since this is the first such Spyce restaurant, it’s understandable that they would have a few people on hand as they worked out any kinks. But if the patent is any indication, future locations won’t have such people power:

The inventive apparatus can be configured to autonomously cook and serve up to 300 meals or more per day with no human involvement. The automated restaurant will preferably be restocked and serviced by employees once every 24 hours.

According to their patent filing, Spyce believes that by reducing/eliminating the human costs associated with running a fast food type restaurant can free up resources to create better food. It’s a solid argument, now we’ll just have to see how it plays out in real life.

There are plenty of robot-powered restaurants coming online. From Creator and Flippy here in the U.S. to the thousands of locations JD.com and Haidilao plan to in China, and you can expect more throughout next year.

But it looks like Spyce may have ambitions beyond its own restaurant and may expand into other applications:

Alternatively, the inventive apparatus and system can be used in industrial applications for the automated production of ready-to-eat food products or entrees in bulk.

Perhaps Spyce is thinking about going all Wolfgang Puck and creating its own line of pre-packaged Spyce meals that could be sold in grocery aisles. Or maybe it will offer its robot as a white-label food maker for grocery stores or other CPG companies to create their own customized and branded prepared meals.

Spyce, which raised $21 million in funding this year, seems to be setting itself up to scale beyond the restaurant biz.