So, the industrial robot hand, nicknamed Bruno[1], withdraws the pizza from the conveyor belt and places it in the oven.
1: https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i07.f8rTkb8...
Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
21–30 of 114 posts
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#22> "Just imagine Domino's without the labor component," said Garden. "You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be." So that quote leads me to imagine crappy pizza that's maybe a little cheaper than other crappy pizza. Doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and try it.
It would be a little cheaper for you and massively more profitable to them (at least until everyone else adds robots).
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is why YC is investigating guaranteed basic income.
The problem with basic income is it transfers the source of the paycheck from a company to the government. Right now, if I have an issue with my paycheck, I can go to the government for recourse. If my paycheck comes from the government, how do I achieve my check and balance? Also, it's already been established that Silicon Valley is not so happy with the government, so displacing an entire working class and making t…
Then you need to rely on the checks and balances between branches of the government. As you said, the checks and balances are ripe for disruption or at least improvement.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#24Does anyone know how much automation is happening at a frozen pizza bakery/factory? The bakery industry has fairly elaborate robotics already, the ones in the video don't seem that revolutionary to me compared to an episode of "How it's made".
I'd gladly eat robot pizza, though. Good luck to these guys.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#25> "Just imagine Domino's without the labor component," said Garden. "You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be." So that quote leads me to imagine crappy pizza that's maybe a little cheaper than other crappy pizza. Doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and try it.
It appears that millions of Americans prefer Dominos pizza considering they command 25% of the US pizza delivery market and sell 1.5 mm pies a day. Sorry their pizza isn't up to your standards.
http://marketrealist.com/2015/03/dominos-pizza-serving-1-5-m...
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#26> "Just imagine Domino's without the labor component," said Garden. "You can start to see how incredibly profitable that can be." So that quote leads me to imagine crappy pizza that's maybe a little cheaper than other crappy pizza. Doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and try it.
It would be a little cheaper for you and massively more profitable to them (at least until everyone else adds robots).
Idk. Pizza takes very little labor in making it, while the place, ingredients, logistics and marketing are quite complex.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with basic income is it transfers the source of the paycheck from a company to the government. Right now, if I have an issue with my paycheck, I can go to the government for recourse. If my paycheck comes from the government, how do I achieve my check and balance? Also, it's already been established that Silicon Valley is not so happy with the government, so displacing an entire working class and making t…
Then you need to rely on the checks and balances between branches of the government. As you said, the checks and balances are ripe for disruption or at least improvement.
We already do that to some extent.
Keep in mind the class distinction between someone working for the government on their own volition (police officers, military, etc), versus someone using it as a resort-- welfare recipients, SSI, veterans, etc.
The other thing to keep in mind, when you work for a company, at least in theory you hold a leverage of being able to quit and go to another job. If you're getting checks from the government (and possibly not working), you lose this leverage.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#28I guess I don't understand what is really novel about this. Don't brands like Digiorno and Freschetta already have highly-optimized pizza assembly lines? Is it really that hard to make the topping/sauce dispensing dynamic instead of static?
I also don't understand the appeal of having the pizza be super hot-n-ready. If you have an efficient baking-to-delivery pipeline, and an insulated container for the pizza, then how much are you really improving the quality? Ten minutes of sitting still in an insulated bag is fine with me.
And how do they handle the hand-off issue with an AUV? You get a notification and then the car sits there waiting to deliver the pizza for several minutes while you walk outside? At that point, the pizza is just as cold as it would have been if you had a human bring one to your door-- and at least the latter doesn't make you put on shoes.
Just seems fraught with issues that really require what you might call "AUV-complete" or "robot-complete" tech. If you have a very smart, powerful drone that is capable of picking up a pizza, keeping it warm, and effectively delivering it to people's doors with 99.99% reliability, then this sounds obvious. Otherwise, this seems like an idea that's too soon to succeed.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#29That robotic arm is the salary of a dominos employee for 10+ years.
Probably not, or at least it won't be at scale. Dominos employees need managers, benefits (of some sort), payroll, legal and HR.. liability insurance for when they get pissed off and do something nasty to another employee or a customer.. they cost a lot more than the hourly.
Re: Zume, a new startup trying to make a more profitable pizza through robotics
#30A consumer isn't going to care about the automation. Does the pizza taste good? I'm especially interested in how these "mobile ovens" will work out. If a delivery is 1 mile away vs 5 miles away, length of time in the oven will be different, yet you don't want to deliver under-baked dough or something that is burnt.
The video in the article says they automatically turn the oven on when they're 3 minutes from the delivery (they have like 50 ovens in the truck). I think that's actually the coolest part of their idea.
I wonder how they power that. Propane?