7 ms·

Former SpaceX Engineers Launching Startup Where Robots Make Pizzas in 45 Seconds

22 points by cheinyeanlim 4y ago

cratermoon 4y ago
It's not DiGiorno, it's DiGiorno in a truck, cooked on demand and delivered to your house. A mobile pizza assembly line. This is what counts for innovation dragging us towards the singularity now?
- fxtentacle 4y ago
  Well, it will make a million people unemployed if this tech is rolled out across restaurants, so it'll certainly have a large effect on society.
  - Melting_Harps 4y ago
    > Well, it will make a million people unemployed if this tech is rolled out across restaurants, so it'll certainly have a large effect on society. It won't, so many positions still remain unfilled since COVID that closures due to staff shortages/COVID outbreaks have been normalized; assuming this tech could scale to be above a certain standard (this looks like public school cafeteria food at best) all it would do is lower labour costs by putting downward pressure on current wages--which are barely at livable levels and will not yield a lower consumer cost as shortages for ingredients keep occurring. There is no real advantage, and the threat of SV titans disrupting the Food Industry is was all smoke and mirrors. The truth is that COVID revealed that this job (cooking) was not just grossly underpaid and undervalued for what it was, but those who were able to used the opportunity to leveraged the skills they learned to move on to a less exploitative/demanding Industry and that the tech was simply not there to do much--even Ghost Kitchens, which still rely on Human labour, have a greater chance at capturing these job losses from brick and mortars than anything else as the effective cost savings are clear (lowering overhead to it's bare essentials and offering many menus in one location). Despite being a proponent of automation in the food industry, specifically at it's origin on the Farm, I doubt this tech will ever be a real threat and will remain a novelty at best and is at it's core just cashing in on the froth of vC money leftover from these last 2 years. You can repeat all the mistakes and losses Doordash/UberEats et al have made to gain marketshare in a captured market, but without a Softbank backing you and really only wanting a sweet IPO exit it simply doesn't seem as lucrative or feasible to disrupt anything.
    - cratermoon 4y ago
      Presumably they will need drivers – I'm not holding my breath for self-driving vehicles – and people to work on the vehicles and the pizza-assembling machines. Probably, much like Lime scooters, they will need daily maintenance, for cleaning and restocking. Not a recipe for increasing unemployment, just moving people from one kind of job to another. Also worth noting is that this puts large, heavy vehicles on the road, with all the attendant externalities for that. They'll be out there with the Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and whoever trucks.
- euroderf 4y ago
  If the truck is still manned, then does this operating model make any more sense than delivering dog food via the internet ? Why do I need the level of personalization associated with delivering an entire food truck to my doorstep ?
sschueller 4y ago
45 second bake time can't possibly produce a pizza that is "healthy". What kind of additives do you have to add to the dough to get that kind fo speed?
- bell-cot 4y ago
  Think back to Calculus 101 - if you make a pizza thin enough, you can cook it in s seconds, for any s > 0.
- fellowniusmonk 4y ago
  At 900 degrees it might be? I have my pizza's (which use a super wet dough) at that temp for 90 seconds. I could see it working with a drier dough and with some ingredients partially pre-cooked.
  - sschueller 4y ago
    At that temp aluminum and other metals will melt. I don't think you can cook a Pizza that hot.
- Melting_Harps 4y ago
  > 45 second bake time can't possibly produce a pizza that is "healthy". What kind of additives do you have to add to the dough to get that kind fo speed? Honestly, it doesn't look that appetizing [0]; it looks like something between a Dominoes and a frozen pizza that you'd have to be really limited on options to even consider, which if you're pulling doubles and everywhere is closed is a likely scenario and it's a stand-alone option. Personally, I think it's an engineer(s) leveraging on their SpaceX backgrounds and doing something fun outside of aerospace to raise funds and their CVs than revolutionizing pizza making as it looks remarkably similar in execution/quality to that of a race to the bottom cost-cutting Dominoes product/process, with albeit more automation at the assembly stage (toppings are done by hand in all the demos I've seen [1]). SpaceX has lots of food trucks that support their food program in addition to their mezzanine kitchen/cafe(s) (Starbase has food trucks only to support its dining-meal program) so maybe this is one former engineer's take on what he would have done differently during COVID is my best guess at explaining the 'how,' but the why still eludes me since their are way better options on and off site. Update: It is, and is guided by former SpaceX Head Chef Cizma: it's likely a PR stunt/fun project more than anything else [2]. Stellar Pizza, founded by ex-SpaceX engineers Benson Tsai, Brian Langone and James Wahawisan, is a food truck that will serve pizzas made by robotic arms that dress and bake the pizzas, which customers will be able to order via the company’s app. Former SpaceX executive chef and director of culinary services Ted Cizma is overseeing the recipes with aid from consultant and Slow Rise Pizza Co. founder Noel Brohner. My guess is they want some of Ono Food's Marketshare who launched and raised in 2019 [3]. Best of luck to them all! 0: https://www.eatstellarpizza.com/ https://www.eatstellarpizza.com/ 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9cWMQ9sWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9cWMQ9sWg 2: https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2021-11-30/with-stellar-pizza-a-team-of-former-spacex-engineers-is-building-pizza-robots https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2021-11-30/with-stellar-p... 3: https://www.nrn.com/technology/food-truck-powered-advanced-robotics-lands-la https://www.nrn.com/technology/food-truck-powered-advanced-r...
neither_color 4y ago
Stellar says one selling point of its pies is that no human hands touch them; they’re made entirely by machines, all the way through to being slid into a box, which a delivery driver passes on to customers. I don't consider that a selling point since the imperfection is part of the experience. Give me a hand tossed New York slice sitting under a lamp for a couple hours and re-baked just when I order it. The air bubbles in the dough and uneven crispiness make each bite just a little different.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- neojebfkekeej 4y ago
  I understand the sentiment, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to add a little randomized imperfection to the robot’s programming. Or is it that after you know the pizza has been made by a robot, you’re expecting a perfect pie? Ahh, the future will be interesting indeed…
  - nerpderp82 4y ago
    Your pizza will taste like the sterile sound effect of a modern car's turn signal.
- Nullabillity 4y ago
  How does reheating work when the average pizza place has maybe 30-40 options on the menu?
  - flyingfences 4y ago
    The options on the menu are for people ordering whole pies. If you walk in for a slice, you pick from the few popular options on deck.
- shiftpgdn 4y ago
  I'd prefer sick people not cough on my pizza.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mbfg 4y ago
How does the machine wash its hands? That's the video i want to see.
lakecresva 4y ago
I guess we'll find out whether Zume's problem was not having enough former SpaceX engineers.
claudiulodro 4y ago
As far as I know, Little Caesars has fresh hot pizzas in the $7-$10 range this company is targeting. It seems like that's going to be their main competition, assuming they get off the ground. Is "made by a robot" a good differentiator? What's the advantage of robot-made-on-demand -- greater customizability? If so, inventory management for all the different toppings would be a big challenge, as well as designing robots that can handle all the different toppings. Or, like many SV companies, is pizza the proof-of-concept and they're shooting to be the global juggernaut of robot food-making and license to the other fast food places? I suspect that's the long-term vision.
- bamboozled 4y ago
  Or, like many SV companies, is pizza the proof-of-concept and they're shooting to be the global juggernaut of robot food-making and license to the other fast food places? I suspect that's the long-term vision. This was hilarious, not sure if that was your intention ha
tschwimmer 4y ago
I don't know why people are starting these companies with such unattractive economics and stiff competition. As noted in the Article, Zume raised 375m and failed (plus their pizza was almost comically awful). From the photo it looks like this company makes a better pizza but there are still some serious problems: 1) Margins on pizza are not very high. Dominos has a 30% gross margin and that's with all the non-pizza crap they've convinced people to buy over the years. The quote a $10 price in the article (though it's not clear if that's their cost or what they're selling for). Say their magical pizza robots instead allow for a 50 or 60% gross margin. If they're selling for $10, you still gotta sell a crap-ton of $10 pizzas to make any real money. That might not be impossible except for the fact that... 2) Competition is incredibly difficult. There are a zillion pizza places everywhere in the US. In addition to the major chains, there are also mom and pop pizza stores too. They are not going to sit idly by while this company scoops up marketshare with its cheap pizzas. They're going to market aggressively (which hurts net margin) and cut prices (which further compresses gross margin). It's going to be especially hard for this company because they're going up against established brands that everyone already knows - they're going to have to outpromote these giant companies. If you really have this magic pizza robot tech, go sell it to Dominos. They will happily pay you vast amounts of money and you can juice your margins with a subscription model for parts and service.
- rdtsc 4y ago
  They might be relying on “made by a robot” gimmick. And then if the taste is good and it’s extremely easy to order I could see making it my default “cheap” pizza option. Granted I don’t order pizza that often, I do a cast iron version myself. But if they can switch to be the “default cheap” pizza for these who order it once every week or two it could work.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  As labor costs go up, automation becomes more attractive. If you have to pay for 2 humans at $25/hr, that's 1200 a day and 450k a year. What's the ROI on a million dollar machine and regular services?
  - 4y ago
sudosysgen 4y ago
Aren't frozen pizzas already made using automated processes? How is this any better? Couldn't you just cook frozen pizzas on the way as well? Is the sell that these pizzas are going to taste far better?
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
  I am certain you could order, from an industrial machine manufacturer, a nearly completely automated fresh pizza production line. You just skip the freezing step and extend the cooking period.
  - yetihehe 4y ago
    Not 45s, but 3 minutes and it's not a production line, but a machine making pizza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_C1BmT-R8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_C1BmT-R8
cbsks 4y ago
Is this going to be a stationary food truck? Or is it going to do home deliveries? Either way, good luck to them. There is a lot of competition in both spaces.
nradov 4y ago
I guess this will be the standard lunch ration on the SpaceX Mars base?
turtlebits 4y ago
The time consuming part of pizza is the dough. It is really making a pizza when they're using premade dough balls? They are also not proofing to room temperature? Also the headline should be "bake a pizza in 45 seconds" as the article states, but I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when consumer pizza ovens can already bake one in 60 seconds.
graycat 4y ago
$7 to $10 for a pizza? Too much! My approach to pizza is intended to be good on cost, preparation time, flavor, and nutrition and in my view is terrific on all four. Table of Contents === Steps Forward === Making the Pizza Dough == Equipment = Stainless Steel Bowls = Other Equipment == The Water and Yeast == The Flour == Mixing in the Salt and Flour == Dough Kneading == Dough Rising == Eight Pieces === Tomato Sauce === Making a Pizza == A Teflon Circle == Forming the Pizza == The Toppings == Cooking == Slicing === Steps Forward For my success and my situation, here are five steps forward: First, I make the pizza at home and, thus, cut out some time delays and lots of costs. Second, I make my own dough. Key here are the simple, bold, blunt facts (a) pizza dough is just bread dough, actually especially simple bread dough, and (b) making pizza dough is fast, fun, and easy. Third, to cook the pizza, I use just a covered cast iron frying pan on a stove top so save on heating a whole oven. Fourth, my pizza is for one, about 7 1/4" in diameter. For larger pizzas, nearly all of the content here can still apply. Fifth, I settle on one pizza with just the same ingredients and then buy the ingredients in bulk quantities at Sam's Club. The ingredients for one pizza cost about $1. All the ingredients can be stored, depending on the ingredient, at room temperature, in a refrigerator, or in a freezer, and be fine for months. === Making the Pizza Dough The usual short version of pizza dough is flour, yeast, salt, and water, and so is my pizza dough. For flour, I get the 25 pound bags of bread and pizza flour from Sam's Club. For yeast, I use Fleischmann's Instant Dry Yeast. My last purchase was from Amazon, 2 pounds, as one purchase, in two packages, each one pound. The yeast comes as loose, small granules. After opening a package, I cover and refrigerate the rest. == Equipment = Stainless Steel Bowls I use two stainless steel bowls. I believe the bowls, at least the larger one, are now sold at Walmart. The larger bowl has at its top outside diameter 12 1/4" and inside diameter 11 1/8". The inside depth is 6 1/2" The smaller bowl has top outside diameter 11 1/2" and inside diameter 10 1/2". The inside depth is depth 3 1/2" = Other Equipment 1 T (tablespoon) measuring spoon large wire whip large cooking spoon spatula pastry board (white plastic, 20" x 15") chef's knife a second supply of flour, not large, say 1 cup or so, for dusting as helpful -- see below. == The Water and Yeast Add to the larger bowl (accuracy here and with the flour is likely important) 650 ml water at room temperature and 1 T (tablespoon) of the yeast. Cover and wait, also at room temperature, an hour or so for the water to soften the yeast (this waiting is likely optional). == The Flour In the smaller bowl, using some digital scales, add 1000 grams of the flour. == Mixing in the Salt and Flour Add 1 T of ordinary table salt to the water and yeast. (There are suggestions that should add the flour right away or the salt might kill the yeast.) With the wire whip, mix the yeast and salt until uniform in the water. Dump into the large bowl with the water, yeast, and salt roughly, just by eye, 2/3rds of the flour and use the wire whip to mix to a smooth viscous cream. Here are trying to get the ingredients as uniform as can while there is still little enough flour in the mixture to have the mixing, with just the wire whip, easy. Really, if want, can just keep adding the flour and mixing with the wire whip until the mixture is too stiff (viscous) to mix with the wire whip. If add too much flour, the wire whip can be difficult to clean! Then dump the remaining 1/3rd or so of the flour into the large bowl and mix with the large cooking spoon. == Dough Kneading To be uniform, the dough needs more mixing, kneading. There are claims that this "develops the gluten". My experience is that apparently all or nearly all that is important is just the mixing. So, add about 1 T of flour to the pastry board and scatter the flour. Dump, scrape the dough from its bowl onto the pastry board. Set this large bowl aside but don't bother to clean it yet; will use the bowl again. Even if measure the water accurately at 650 ml and the flour accurately at 1000 grams, there is some question how dry the dough will be at this point in the work. The idea of kneading is (a) to press and spread the dough to increase the area of the board it covers, (b) to fold the dough so that the wetter parts are inside and the dryer parts are outside, and then to return to (a). The spatula can be useful for moving loose flour/dough to the main mass where can fold it into the main mass with the kneading. When starting this kneading, if there is no relatively dry surface and the dough sticks a lot to your fingers, then dust the outside with about 1/2 T of flour. Should not have much trouble with the dough sticking to your fingers. If the dough is too sticky, then it can take surprisingly little extra flour, maybe just 1/2 T, to make the dough sticking not a problem. Kneading for 8 minutes is likely longer than necessary. How to know there is enough kneading? All of (a) -- (c) just below are sufficient and quite doable: (a) The dough looks about as well mixed and uniform as it will get. (b) If press with a finger, the dough springs back some. (c) The outside looks smooth, no longer like the irregular, sticky mass that started on the board. == Dough Rising You want the yeast to grow and generate flavor but especially CO2 to make the dough and the pizza puffy. So, put the mass of dough back in the large bowl, cover the bowl (not in contact with the dough) with a towel or other means to keep out air, and let the dough rest at room temperature for several hours until it is, say, within 1" of the top of the bowl. Just exactly how long you let the dough rise is not critical: You just want the yeast to generate some small bubbles of CO2. With a lot of rising, will tend to get some large bubbles and more volume, but the next step in the dough handling will pop the large bubbles which means that they were not very useful. If you let the dough rise too long, then the top can dry out. == Eight Pieces From this one recipe of dough, I get 8 pizzas, each about 7 1/4" in diameter. But, if want to make larger pizzas, then divide the dough into 6, 4, or maybe 2 pieces! Put 1 T of flour on the pastry board, dump the dough onto the flour, and roll the dough around in the flour. At this point I squeeze and stretch the dough to make a roughly uniform log the diagonal length of the cutting board. Then using a chef's knife, I cut the log into 2, then 4, then 8 roughly equal pieces. I put each piece in a covered plastic container of volume about 12 ounces. For dough I want to eat as pizzas in the next day or two, I put the containers in the refrigerator. For the rest, I freeze them. The freezing works well for keeping the dough. The dough not frozen can continue to rise and need a container larger than 12 ounces. === Tomato Sauce The tomato sauce used can be quite simple and still yield a good pizza. Here is a relatively complicated sauce I improvised from the standard flavorings that I believe also makes a good pizza: 2 6 ounce cans of tomato paste one 105 ounce can of Sam's Club Maker's Mark crushed tomatoes 3 T garlic from Walmart bottled, diced garlic 2 T Tone's dry oregano 2 T Tone's dry basil Combine in 6 quart pot. Mix. Simmer to sterilize and reduce a little. Put about a quart in the refrigerator to use for pizzas soon and freeze the rest. === Making a Pizza == A Teflon Circle My use of a covered cast iron skillet as an oven can burn the bottom of the pizza before the rest is hot. So, to protect the bottom, I make the pizza on a sheet of Teflon. I get the Teflon as "Dehydrator Sheets" 14 x 14" from Amazon. So far, after hundreds of pizzas, I am still using the first, same sheet of Teflon! I cut the sheet to a circle 8 1/4" in diameter. == Forming the Pizza With a piece of thawed dough, 1/8th of the whole recipe, weighing about (1000 + 650) / 8 = 206.250 grams press the dough into a circle about 7 1/4" in diameter on the Teflon circle. == The Toppings I add about 48 grams tomato sauce, 43 grams of (still frozen) shredded Mozzarella cheese (from Sam's), 23 grams (four circles) of pepperoni sausage (relatively large circles, already sliced, from Sam's). The toppings and their amounts can vary enormously. Commonly the US uses way more in sauce, cheese, and other toppings than, say, some famous places in Italy and needed for a good pizza. == Cooking I cook the pizza in a covered cast iron frying pan with bottom cooking circle 8 1/2" in diameter for 22 minutes (with the frying pan starting at room temperature). I use a large burner on an electric stove, and, on that stove, have the power dial at about 8 o'clock -- for another stove, you may have to experiment. This cooking results in the bottom crisp and nicely brown and the rest nicely hot without boiling the Mozzarella cheese. == Slicing To eat, using the chef's knife, I cut the pizza in just two pieces.
pedalpete 4y ago
Is this what the singularity is really all about? We have major problems facing the world, but at least we can have a pizza delivered 5 minutes faster than before. Let's assume pizza is just the start, and the real goal is robotic chefs. Ok, that's great. Please say that is what you are doing and why. I don't know that robotic chef is in huge demand. How would having robotic chef's make the world a better place, maybe it's possible, but I just don't see it.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  Well first of all, it is a robotic chef. It's goal is to make the world a better place. It does that by providing faster pizza, something that is apparently important and the world holds in high demand.
freeone3000 4y ago
We already have pizza-making robots, at DiGorno's. A supermarket frozen pizza is already $10. Why is this better?
janef0421 4y ago
Seems like little more than an attempt to get rich on VC cash.
xenospn 4y ago
I interviewed with one of the cofounders. brilliant team - asked him why pizza and he basically said it’s a market with infinite demand, so easy to scale. I guess we’ll see.

22 points by cheinyeanlim 4y ago

It's not DiGiorno, it's DiGiorno in a truck, cooked on demand and delivered to your house. A mobile pizza assembly line. This is what counts for innovation dragging us towards the singularity now?

fxtentacle 4y ago
Well, it will make a million people unemployed if this tech is rolled out across restaurants, so it'll certainly have a large effect on society.
- Melting_Harps 4y ago
  > Well, it will make a million people unemployed if this tech is rolled out across restaurants, so it'll certainly have a large effect on society. It won't, so many positions still remain unfilled since COVID that closures due to staff shortages/COVID outbreaks have been normalized; assuming this tech could scale to be above a certain standard (this looks like public school cafeteria food at best) all it would do is lower labour costs by putting downward pressure on current wages--which are barely at livable levels and will not yield a lower consumer cost as shortages for ingredients keep occurring. There is no real advantage, and the threat of SV titans disrupting the Food Industry is was all smoke and mirrors. The truth is that COVID revealed that this job (cooking) was not just grossly underpaid and undervalued for what it was, but those who were able to used the opportunity to leveraged the skills they learned to move on to a less exploitative/demanding Industry and that the tech was simply not there to do much--even Ghost Kitchens, which still rely on Human labour, have a greater chance at capturing these job losses from brick and mortars than anything else as the effective cost savings are clear (lowering overhead to it's bare essentials and offering many menus in one location). Despite being a proponent of automation in the food industry, specifically at it's origin on the Farm, I doubt this tech will ever be a real threat and will remain a novelty at best and is at it's core just cashing in on the froth of vC money leftover from these last 2 years. You can repeat all the mistakes and losses Doordash/UberEats et al have made to gain marketshare in a captured market, but without a Softbank backing you and really only wanting a sweet IPO exit it simply doesn't seem as lucrative or feasible to disrupt anything.
  - cratermoon 4y ago
    Presumably they will need drivers – I'm not holding my breath for self-driving vehicles – and people to work on the vehicles and the pizza-assembling machines. Probably, much like Lime scooters, they will need daily maintenance, for cleaning and restocking. Not a recipe for increasing unemployment, just moving people from one kind of job to another. Also worth noting is that this puts large, heavy vehicles on the road, with all the attendant externalities for that. They'll be out there with the Amazon, FedEx, UPS, and whoever trucks.
euroderf 4y ago
If the truck is still manned, then does this operating model make any more sense than delivering dog food via the internet ? Why do I need the level of personalization associated with delivering an entire food truck to my doorstep ?

sschueller 4y ago

45 second bake time can't possibly produce a pizza that is "healthy". What kind of additives do you have to add to the dough to get that kind fo speed?

bell-cot 4y ago
Think back to Calculus 101 - if you make a pizza thin enough, you can cook it in s seconds, for any s > 0.
fellowniusmonk 4y ago
At 900 degrees it might be? I have my pizza's (which use a super wet dough) at that temp for 90 seconds. I could see it working with a drier dough and with some ingredients partially pre-cooked.
- sschueller 4y ago
  At that temp aluminum and other metals will melt. I don't think you can cook a Pizza that hot.
Melting_Harps 4y ago
> 45 second bake time can't possibly produce a pizza that is "healthy". What kind of additives do you have to add to the dough to get that kind fo speed? Honestly, it doesn't look that appetizing [0]; it looks like something between a Dominoes and a frozen pizza that you'd have to be really limited on options to even consider, which if you're pulling doubles and everywhere is closed is a likely scenario and it's a stand-alone option. Personally, I think it's an engineer(s) leveraging on their SpaceX backgrounds and doing something fun outside of aerospace to raise funds and their CVs than revolutionizing pizza making as it looks remarkably similar in execution/quality to that of a race to the bottom cost-cutting Dominoes product/process, with albeit more automation at the assembly stage (toppings are done by hand in all the demos I've seen [1]). SpaceX has lots of food trucks that support their food program in addition to their mezzanine kitchen/cafe(s) (Starbase has food trucks only to support its dining-meal program) so maybe this is one former engineer's take on what he would have done differently during COVID is my best guess at explaining the 'how,' but the why still eludes me since their are way better options on and off site. Update: It is, and is guided by former SpaceX Head Chef Cizma: it's likely a PR stunt/fun project more than anything else [2]. Stellar Pizza, founded by ex-SpaceX engineers Benson Tsai, Brian Langone and James Wahawisan, is a food truck that will serve pizzas made by robotic arms that dress and bake the pizzas, which customers will be able to order via the company’s app. Former SpaceX executive chef and director of culinary services Ted Cizma is overseeing the recipes with aid from consultant and Slow Rise Pizza Co. founder Noel Brohner. My guess is they want some of Ono Food's Marketshare who launched and raised in 2019 [3]. Best of luck to them all! 0: https://www.eatstellarpizza.com/ https://www.eatstellarpizza.com/ 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9cWMQ9sWg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9cWMQ9sWg 2: https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2021-11-30/with-stellar-pizza-a-team-of-former-spacex-engineers-is-building-pizza-robots https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2021-11-30/with-stellar-p... 3: https://www.nrn.com/technology/food-truck-powered-advanced-robotics-lands-la https://www.nrn.com/technology/food-truck-powered-advanced-r...

neither_color 4y ago

Stellar says one selling point of its pies is that no human hands touch them; they’re made entirely by machines, all the way through to being slid into a box, which a delivery driver passes on to customers. I don't consider that a selling point since the imperfection is part of the experience. Give me a hand tossed New York slice sitting under a lamp for a couple hours and re-baked just when I order it. The air bubbles in the dough and uneven crispiness make each bite just a little different.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
neojebfkekeej 4y ago
I understand the sentiment, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to add a little randomized imperfection to the robot’s programming. Or is it that after you know the pizza has been made by a robot, you’re expecting a perfect pie? Ahh, the future will be interesting indeed…
- nerpderp82 4y ago
  Your pizza will taste like the sterile sound effect of a modern car's turn signal.
Nullabillity 4y ago
How does reheating work when the average pizza place has maybe 30-40 options on the menu?
- flyingfences 4y ago
  The options on the menu are for people ordering whole pies. If you walk in for a slice, you pick from the few popular options on deck.
shiftpgdn 4y ago
I'd prefer sick people not cough on my pizza.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

mbfg 4y ago

How does the machine wash its hands? That's the video i want to see.

lakecresva 4y ago

I guess we'll find out whether Zume's problem was not having enough former SpaceX engineers.

claudiulodro 4y ago

As far as I know, Little Caesars has fresh hot pizzas in the $7-$10 range this company is targeting. It seems like that's going to be their main competition, assuming they get off the ground. Is "made by a robot" a good differentiator? What's the advantage of robot-made-on-demand -- greater customizability? If so, inventory management for all the different toppings would be a big challenge, as well as designing robots that can handle all the different toppings. Or, like many SV companies, is pizza the proof-of-concept and they're shooting to be the global juggernaut of robot food-making and license to the other fast food places? I suspect that's the long-term vision.

bamboozled 4y ago
Or, like many SV companies, is pizza the proof-of-concept and they're shooting to be the global juggernaut of robot food-making and license to the other fast food places? I suspect that's the long-term vision. This was hilarious, not sure if that was your intention ha

tschwimmer 4y ago

I don't know why people are starting these companies with such unattractive economics and stiff competition. As noted in the Article, Zume raised 375m and failed (plus their pizza was almost comically awful). From the photo it looks like this company makes a better pizza but there are still some serious problems: 1) Margins on pizza are not very high. Dominos has a 30% gross margin and that's with all the non-pizza crap they've convinced people to buy over the years. The quote a $10 price in the article (though it's not clear if that's their cost or what they're selling for). Say their magical pizza robots instead allow for a 50 or 60% gross margin. If they're selling for $10, you still gotta sell a crap-ton of $10 pizzas to make any real money. That might not be impossible except for the fact that... 2) Competition is incredibly difficult. There are a zillion pizza places everywhere in the US. In addition to the major chains, there are also mom and pop pizza stores too. They are not going to sit idly by while this company scoops up marketshare with its cheap pizzas. They're going to market aggressively (which hurts net margin) and cut prices (which further compresses gross margin). It's going to be especially hard for this company because they're going up against established brands that everyone already knows - they're going to have to outpromote these giant companies. If you really have this magic pizza robot tech, go sell it to Dominos. They will happily pay you vast amounts of money and you can juice your margins with a subscription model for parts and service.

rdtsc 4y ago
They might be relying on “made by a robot” gimmick. And then if the taste is good and it’s extremely easy to order I could see making it my default “cheap” pizza option. Granted I don’t order pizza that often, I do a cast iron version myself. But if they can switch to be the “default cheap” pizza for these who order it once every week or two it could work.
s1artibartfast 4y ago
As labor costs go up, automation becomes more attractive. If you have to pay for 2 humans at $25/hr, that's 1200 a day and 450k a year. What's the ROI on a million dollar machine and regular services?
- 4y ago

sudosysgen 4y ago

Aren't frozen pizzas already made using automated processes? How is this any better? Couldn't you just cook frozen pizzas on the way as well? Is the sell that these pizzas are going to taste far better?

TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
I am certain you could order, from an industrial machine manufacturer, a nearly completely automated fresh pizza production line. You just skip the freezing step and extend the cooking period.
- yetihehe 4y ago
  Not 45s, but 3 minutes and it's not a production line, but a machine making pizza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_C1BmT-R8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_C1BmT-R8

cbsks 4y ago

Is this going to be a stationary food truck? Or is it going to do home deliveries? Either way, good luck to them. There is a lot of competition in both spaces.

nradov 4y ago

I guess this will be the standard lunch ration on the SpaceX Mars base?

turtlebits 4y ago

The time consuming part of pizza is the dough. It is really making a pizza when they're using premade dough balls? They are also not proofing to room temperature? Also the headline should be "bake a pizza in 45 seconds" as the article states, but I guess it doesn't sound that impressive when consumer pizza ovens can already bake one in 60 seconds.

graycat 4y ago

$7 to $10 for a pizza? Too much! My approach to pizza is intended to be good on cost, preparation time, flavor, and nutrition and in my view is terrific on all four. Table of Contents === Steps Forward === Making the Pizza Dough == Equipment = Stainless Steel Bowls = Other Equipment == The Water and Yeast == The Flour == Mixing in the Salt and Flour == Dough Kneading == Dough Rising == Eight Pieces === Tomato Sauce === Making a Pizza == A Teflon Circle == Forming the Pizza == The Toppings == Cooking == Slicing === Steps Forward For my success and my situation, here are five steps forward: First, I make the pizza at home and, thus, cut out some time delays and lots of costs. Second, I make my own dough. Key here are the simple, bold, blunt facts (a) pizza dough is just bread dough, actually especially simple bread dough, and (b) making pizza dough is fast, fun, and easy. Third, to cook the pizza, I use just a covered cast iron frying pan on a stove top so save on heating a whole oven. Fourth, my pizza is for one, about 7 1/4" in diameter. For larger pizzas, nearly all of the content here can still apply. Fifth, I settle on one pizza with just the same ingredients and then buy the ingredients in bulk quantities at Sam's Club. The ingredients for one pizza cost about $1. All the ingredients can be stored, depending on the ingredient, at room temperature, in a refrigerator, or in a freezer, and be fine for months. === Making the Pizza Dough The usual short version of pizza dough is flour, yeast, salt, and water, and so is my pizza dough. For flour, I get the 25 pound bags of bread and pizza flour from Sam's Club. For yeast, I use Fleischmann's Instant Dry Yeast. My last purchase was from Amazon, 2 pounds, as one purchase, in two packages, each one pound. The yeast comes as loose, small granules. After opening a package, I cover and refrigerate the rest. == Equipment = Stainless Steel Bowls I use two stainless steel bowls. I believe the bowls, at least the larger one, are now sold at Walmart. The larger bowl has at its top outside diameter 12 1/4" and inside diameter 11 1/8". The inside depth is 6 1/2" The smaller bowl has top outside diameter 11 1/2" and inside diameter 10 1/2". The inside depth is depth 3 1/2" = Other Equipment 1 T (tablespoon) measuring spoon large wire whip large cooking spoon spatula pastry board (white plastic, 20" x 15") chef's knife a second supply of flour, not large, say 1 cup or so, for dusting as helpful -- see below. == The Water and Yeast Add to the larger bowl (accuracy here and with the flour is likely important) 650 ml water at room temperature and 1 T (tablespoon) of the yeast. Cover and wait, also at room temperature, an hour or so for the water to soften the yeast (this waiting is likely optional). == The Flour In the smaller bowl, using some digital scales, add 1000 grams of the flour. == Mixing in the Salt and Flour Add 1 T of ordinary table salt to the water and yeast. (There are suggestions that should add the flour right away or the salt might kill the yeast.) With the wire whip, mix the yeast and salt until uniform in the water. Dump into the large bowl with the water, yeast, and salt roughly, just by eye, 2/3rds of the flour and use the wire whip to mix to a smooth viscous cream. Here are trying to get the ingredients as uniform as can while there is still little enough flour in the mixture to have the mixing, with just the wire whip, easy. Really, if want, can just keep adding the flour and mixing with the wire whip until the mixture is too stiff (viscous) to mix with the wire whip. If add too much flour, the wire whip can be difficult to clean! Then dump the remaining 1/3rd or so of the flour into the large bowl and mix with the large cooking spoon. == Dough Kneading To be uniform, the dough needs more mixing, kneading. There are claims that this "develops the gluten". My experience is that apparently all or nearly all that is important is just the mixing. So, add about 1 T of flour to the pastry board and scatter the flour. Dump, scrape the dough from its bowl onto the pastry board. Set this large bowl aside but don't bother to clean it yet; will use the bowl again. Even if measure the water accurately at 650 ml and the flour accurately at 1000 grams, there is some question how dry the dough will be at this point in the work. The idea of kneading is (a) to press and spread the dough to increase the area of the board it covers, (b) to fold the dough so that the wetter parts are inside and the dryer parts are outside, and then to return to (a). The spatula can be useful for moving loose flour/dough to the main mass where can fold it into the main mass with the kneading. When starting this kneading, if there is no relatively dry surface and the dough sticks a lot to your fingers, then dust the outside with about 1/2 T of flour. Should not have much trouble with the dough sticking to your fingers. If the dough is too sticky, then it can take surprisingly little extra flour, maybe just 1/2 T, to make the dough sticking not a problem. Kneading for 8 minutes is likely longer than necessary. How to know there is enough kneading? All of (a) -- (c) just below are sufficient and quite doable: (a) The dough looks about as well mixed and uniform as it will get. (b) If press with a finger, the dough springs back some. (c) The outside looks smooth, no longer like the irregular, sticky mass that started on the board. == Dough Rising You want the yeast to grow and generate flavor but especially CO2 to make the dough and the pizza puffy. So, put the mass of dough back in the large bowl, cover the bowl (not in contact with the dough) with a towel or other means to keep out air, and let the dough rest at room temperature for several hours until it is, say, within 1" of the top of the bowl. Just exactly how long you let the dough rise is not critical: You just want the yeast to generate some small bubbles of CO2. With a lot of rising, will tend to get some large bubbles and more volume, but the next step in the dough handling will pop the large bubbles which means that they were not very useful. If you let the dough rise too long, then the top can dry out. == Eight Pieces From this one recipe of dough, I get 8 pizzas, each about 7 1/4" in diameter. But, if want to make larger pizzas, then divide the dough into 6, 4, or maybe 2 pieces! Put 1 T of flour on the pastry board, dump the dough onto the flour, and roll the dough around in the flour. At this point I squeeze and stretch the dough to make a roughly uniform log the diagonal length of the cutting board. Then using a chef's knife, I cut the log into 2, then 4, then 8 roughly equal pieces. I put each piece in a covered plastic container of volume about 12 ounces. For dough I want to eat as pizzas in the next day or two, I put the containers in the refrigerator. For the rest, I freeze them. The freezing works well for keeping the dough. The dough not frozen can continue to rise and need a container larger than 12 ounces. === Tomato Sauce The tomato sauce used can be quite simple and still yield a good pizza. Here is a relatively complicated sauce I improvised from the standard flavorings that I believe also makes a good pizza: 2 6 ounce cans of tomato paste one 105 ounce can of Sam's Club Maker's Mark crushed tomatoes 3 T garlic from Walmart bottled, diced garlic 2 T Tone's dry oregano 2 T Tone's dry basil Combine in 6 quart pot. Mix. Simmer to sterilize and reduce a little. Put about a quart in the refrigerator to use for pizzas soon and freeze the rest. === Making a Pizza == A Teflon Circle My use of a covered cast iron skillet as an oven can burn the bottom of the pizza before the rest is hot. So, to protect the bottom, I make the pizza on a sheet of Teflon. I get the Teflon as "Dehydrator Sheets" 14 x 14" from Amazon. So far, after hundreds of pizzas, I am still using the first, same sheet of Teflon! I cut the sheet to a circle 8 1/4" in diameter. == Forming the Pizza With a piece of thawed dough, 1/8th of the whole recipe, weighing about (1000 + 650) / 8 = 206.250 grams press the dough into a circle about 7 1/4" in diameter on the Teflon circle. == The Toppings I add about 48 grams tomato sauce, 43 grams of (still frozen) shredded Mozzarella cheese (from Sam's), 23 grams (four circles) of pepperoni sausage (relatively large circles, already sliced, from Sam's). The toppings and their amounts can vary enormously. Commonly the US uses way more in sauce, cheese, and other toppings than, say, some famous places in Italy and needed for a good pizza. == Cooking I cook the pizza in a covered cast iron frying pan with bottom cooking circle 8 1/2" in diameter for 22 minutes (with the frying pan starting at room temperature). I use a large burner on an electric stove, and, on that stove, have the power dial at about 8 o'clock -- for another stove, you may have to experiment. This cooking results in the bottom crisp and nicely brown and the rest nicely hot without boiling the Mozzarella cheese. == Slicing To eat, using the chef's knife, I cut the pizza in just two pieces.

pedalpete 4y ago

Is this what the singularity is really all about? We have major problems facing the world, but at least we can have a pizza delivered 5 minutes faster than before. Let's assume pizza is just the start, and the real goal is robotic chefs. Ok, that's great. Please say that is what you are doing and why. I don't know that robotic chef is in huge demand. How would having robotic chef's make the world a better place, maybe it's possible, but I just don't see it.

s1artibartfast 4y ago
Well first of all, it is a robotic chef. It's goal is to make the world a better place. It does that by providing faster pizza, something that is apparently important and the world holds in high demand.

freeone3000 4y ago

We already have pizza-making robots, at DiGorno's. A supermarket frozen pizza is already $10. Why is this better?

janef0421 4y ago

Seems like little more than an attempt to get rich on VC cash.

xenospn 4y ago

I interviewed with one of the cofounders. brilliant team - asked him why pizza and he basically said it’s a market with infinite demand, so easy to scale. I guess we’ll see.