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I worked for years at a KFC, all the way up to assistant manager. It was actually quite a challenging job, far harder than my senior software engineering role I
by iamleppert 3y ago
I worked for years at a KFC, all the way up to assistant manager. It was actually quite a challenging job, far harder than my senior software engineering role I have now. You have to manage at least 10 different products, and about 10 other variables such as labor and food cost and speed of service in real time, all while typically running a position yourself, and doing inventory in your down time.
That said, the actual physical making of the food is a small and trivial part of any operation of a fast food restaurant and this robotic help would be laughed out of any kitchen I was in.
Until the robots can do all of the tasks above and quickly switch from one to another and be highly adaptable in real time based on the needs of the restaurant, I think we’re okay.
This tells me more the founders of this startup should have gone to work in a fast food restaurant before thinking they are smart enough to innovate it. This feels like ivory tower innovation at best.
- noobermin 3y agoPer the article, their original goal was to man a grill station but they realised it was far too difficult. Still, manning a deep fryer is possible apparently.
- iamleppert 3y agoDropping a fry bag is such a tiny part of what you do in a restaurant it’s almost a joke.
- throwaway35777 3y ago> Until the robots can do all of the tasks above and quickly switch from one to another and be highly adaptable in real time based on the needs of the restaurant Ideally if your robots cost less than $20/hour you can buy enough of them to do one job each.
- nine_k 3y agoPhysical space limitations may prevent you from cramming too many machines inside the restaurant.
- 13of40 3y agoI worked the kitchen at McDonald's for about six months once, and I think a better application of AI in this case would be to keep track of the number of customers queued up versus the amount and kinds of food already staged, then tell people what to cook and when. Simple automation like a light above the deep fryer that means "drop a batch of nuggets now" would be a game changer. Another way to say that is as a young man I had loads of manual dexterity but zero experience running an assembly line with multiple products and unpredictable surges in demand. Use the AI to patch what's actually lacking.