5 tech things: Robot chef that can learn recipes featured at CES 2022

In this special edition of its 5 Things series, Food Management highlights five recent technology-related developments affecting the foodservice world.

Here’s your list for today:

Among the high-tech innovations demonstrated at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was a robot that can learn how to recreate recipes in a restaurant kitchen through sensors that are attached to kitchen utensils to analyze recipes. AI just needs 48 hours to learn how to make the food and then can easily reproduce the dish.

Read more: Robot chefs, medical twins and 3D-printed houses are some highlights of CES 2022

Customers dining at Denny’s restaurants in Wilkes-Barre and Dickson City in Pennsylvania are now greeted by robot servers that bring their pancakes, bacon and eggs. Both local locations have a robot server that doesn’t take orders but delivers plates of food to tables and brings dirty dishes back to the kitchen.

Read more: Robots now serving at Denny's in Wilkes-Barre, Dickson City

ShopRite is the first grocer on the East Coast to unveil the new QuickCollect GO! POD, which lets shoppers pick up their entire online grocery orders—including ambient, refrigerated and frozen foods—from a temperature controlled outdoor pickup pod that uses robotic automation for secure delivery and retrieval of online orders anytime. “The QuickCollect GO!™ POD will make it even easier for our shoppers at the New Rochelle store to pick up their online orders,” said Steve Savas, President, Shop-Rite Supermarkets, Inc. (SRS), which operates ShopRite stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Hudson Valley and Capital Region in New York. “It’s self-checkout and pickup for online orders that’s done right outside the store.  We are excited to be the first grocer on the East Coast with this technology.”

Related:5 things: Sodexo reports 28.2% Q1 revenue increase in North American unit

Read more: ShopRite Unveils QuickCollect GO!™ POD  Smart Grocery Pickup at the ShopRite of New Rochelle

Also at CES, vendor Ottonomy unveiled its Ottobots fleet of fully autonomous delivery robots for both indoor and outdoor use by restaurants and retailers in North America after successful pilots delivering retail and food items at CVG Airport in Cincinnati and for last-mile food delivery for customers of Crave Restaurant in Los Angeles. The Ottobots create a digital map of the service area and localize within that map with its live location getting updated on the map as they are navigating autonomously to deliver the orders, including through crowded and unpredictable environments.

Related:5 tech things: Grocer opens checkout-free employee store in fulfillment center

Read more: Ottonomy Unveils Ottobot; The World's First Fully Autonomous Delivery Robot Delivering in Both Indoor and Outdoor Environments

Y-Pulse research organization has released insight from a new study that shows that while young adult consumers are familiar with no-touch transactions and adept at using technology in all aspects of their lives, nearly three-fourths (72%) of those surveyed reported that they missed printed menus and 59% said it concerned them that scanning a QR code to get a menu could have some security issues. “Although young adult consumers are typically among the first to embrace new technology, the consumers we surveyed shared their frustrations and concerns about today’s restaurant menus,” said Y-Pulse Executive Director Sharon Olson. “Techy-no-touch menus have their advantages and are undoubtedly here to stay, but there are a number of ways savvy restaurateurs can entice their patrons with modern menus.”

Read more: Y-Pulse Study Delves Into the Appeal of Techy-No-Touch Menus

Bonus: 10 key technology trends and disruptors of 2021

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]