Walmart Is Testing A Robot For Its Fry Cooks Replacement

Indira Datta - Dec 17, 2018

To save time for its employees, Walmart is currently putting into test a kitchen assistant robot that is capable of frying foods.

Yahoo Finance said on Monday that Walmart is currently putting into test a kitchen assistant robot that is capable of frying foods at the Culinary Institute and Innovation Center in Bentonville, Arkansas.

This robot is called Flippy, and it will probably be added to the US workforce in the not so distant future. If the tests work well, Flippy will automate the process of frying dishes such as chicken and potatoes to serve customers at Walmart delis.

Flippy is the creation of Miso Robotics, a startup based in Pasadena. Flippy can do all the work in the kitchen from flipping burgers to frying foods. It consists of a 6-axis arm, cameras, and sensors, combined with artificial intelligence to complete all the assigned kitchen tasks.

Walmart believes that Flippy could stand behind the counter at its delis. A human worker will do tasks like filling a basket of fried food and putting it on a rack while Flippy identifies the food in the basket, put it in hot oil to fry and shake the basket so that the food is evenly cooked. Then, Flippy will move the food basket to another rack for a worker to check the temperature inside.

Walmart tests robot fry cook 'Flippy' at its in-store delis

This is not the first time robot is used by Walmart at tasks the company believes are time-wasting for its employees. In August this year, robotic trolleys were put into a test to pick up online orders from customers. Also, the company is preparing to unveil 360 robot janitors with the capability to clean the floors.

At present, Flippy's presence does not cause any employee to lose their job, which might be questionable. Although Flippy does not replace any Walmart's employee, it saved the company some money as unlike human employees, the robot would not once try to sneakily eat a piece of chicken tender while working behind the counter.

Miso Robotics director David Zito stated that the invention of these robots was not meant to replace anyone's work. The company's goal is to assists chefs and cooks in America and to reduce the burden on them in repetitive tasks.