Miso Robotics raised $10 million in its Series B funding round. Miso Robotics created Flippy, a burger-flipping robot, which will make its debut shortly at 50 Caliburger locations.
Culinary robot manufacturer Miso Robotics completed a $10 million Series B round led by Acacia Research Corporation , bringing its total funding to $13.1 million. With this funding, the AI-based robotics company will bring its flagship robot, “Flippy” the burger flipper, to 50 CaliBurger locations.
Faster than you can imagine a future wherein MasterChef contestants consist solely of robotics engineers, Flippy’s top grill speed aims to assist busy kitchen staff.
“People really like the idea of a kitchen assistant that can really come in and be that third hand for the overworked staff,” explains Miso Robotics CEO Dave Zito. “They’re all reporting high turnover rate and increasing customer demand for fresh ingredients prepared quickly. Trying to keep that at accessible prices is hard.”
In a promotional video, Flippy can be seen working side-by-side with a restaurant employee as it flips hamburgers and carefully places cooked patties on a nearby tray. The video also demonstrates Flippy’s intelligent cooking AI software, featuring a camera view of what Flippy is processing on the flat top.
This investment round included funding from Levy Restaurants, a hospitality company that runs restaurants in a variety of high traffic venues, ranging from Barclays Center to Walt Disney World Resort. While Flippy’s current restaurant application could have efficiency scalability limits due to production bottlenecks related to finite grill spaces and restaurant seating space, it could potentially assist busy kitchen staff with to-go orders in busy venues.
Miso’s latest round of funding joins the ranks of a number of well funded robotics-based food ventures to make waves the recent years, including Momentum Machines. With $18.4 million in funding, Momentum debuted a burger-assembling robot in 2012 that was capable of grilling, assembling and wrapping up to 400 burgers in an hour, but has not yet rolled out its robots to the public.
Also in the rising culinary robot space is Cafe X, a robotic coffee shop that serves coffee from specialty roasters. Boasting reasonable prices ($3.25 for a latte) due in part to the lack of tipping, premium beans from the likes of Ritual Coffee and Intelligentsia and friendly waving robots, the company is planning the opening of its thirdlocation. Cafe X’s flagship location is coincidentally nearby automated ramen vending machine, Yo-Kai Express.
Rising in the culinary robot space is Cafe X, a robotic coffee shop that serves coffee from specialty roasters. Boasting reasonable prices ($3.25 for a latte) due in part to the lack of tipping, premium beans from the likes of Ritual Coffee and Intelligentsia and friendly waving robots, the company is planning the opening of its third location.
While there is investor confidence in back of house automation, the food industry appears tepid about ushering front of house experiences into the automation age. Most recently, automat-esque quinoa bowl fast casual restaurant Eatsa shuttered four of its seven locations. At its location, customers place orders at kiosks while chefs prepare the bowls out of sight, and ultimately deliver orders via cubbies labeled with the customer’s name. The chain’s downsizing is suspected to be due in part to its limited offerings as well as its lack of traditional service.