Jack in the Box hired Flippy the Robot for $3,500 per month. Although he isn’t cheap, this robot is expected to dominate the fry station by never taking breaks, calling out sick or talking back with the manager.
This tech cost $50 million to develop and was created by Miso Robotics, filling in the gap that is wide open due to the labor shortage.
The other robots are Sippy, which fulfills drink orders, and Chippy, which will be frying tortilla chips.
“We realized for a robotic solution to be a real solution for our customers, it had to have a really high customer return on investment. Which meant it had to take a meaningful amount of labor off the table,” company chief executive Mike Bell told The Washington Post.
Restaurants like White Castle, Panera Bread and Buffalo Wild Wings are testing the Miso Products. As I previously reported, this technology in the fast-food industry alone is set to reach $342 billion.
The transition to automation is happening before our eyes, but it’s important to understand this new world order, as Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of Sinovation Ventures, wrote.
Instead of despairing, it’s important to prepare for what’s to come, he said.
“We must remember that our human knack for compassion and empathy is going to be a valuable asset in the future workforce, and that jobs hinged on care, creativity and education will remain vital to our society,” Lee wrote.