71–80 of 84 posts
Pretty broad definition of "good" if Soylent fits in there.
It's just another automatic wok. There are many companies making those in China.[1][2][3][4] And those are just the pan style. The simpler rotating-drum machines are easily available on Alibaba.[5] Those guys didn't do their homework to see what's available. The home-sized ones often take a cartridge of little plastic bins preloaded with the ingredients and coded with the instructions. Just slip one of those in the s…
Just to pick one: the supply chain is a real issue. Getting fresh ingredients into the machines, keeping them running, performing maintenance... all of that requires a well-tuned supply chain, knowledge of food sources, etc., especially since Spyce is targeting an upscale "fast-casual" (~healthy) demographic.
As a disclaimer I was pitched by this team in 2015-2016, and was pretty convinced that they weren't facing much local competition.
I'm surprised Moley ( http://www.moley.com/ ) didn't get a mention. I'm super excited about robotic food preparation, especially in the case of consumer facing robotics where its a unit in your own kitchen. With that said, from the robotics progress I've seen/studied, more fundamental robotics progress needs to be made first. The approaches used right now are just not durable/reliable enough for mass market adoption.…
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All this does is dump the ingredients in a pot and mix them by spinning the pot. It's a hell of a long way off from making such advanced recipes as sandwiches or burritos. And at $7.50 it's rather expensive by fast food standards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc8D-CnDMiE
I am personally very interested in developing a robot that is able to wield a knife and slice food, particularly healthy vegetables. Here's a compilation video of various food robots from July 2017: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRngacYpi7E
It's just another automatic wok. There are many companies making those in China.[1][2][3][4] And those are just the pan style. The simpler rotating-drum machines are easily available on Alibaba.[5] Those guys didn't do their homework to see what's available. The home-sized ones often take a cartridge of little plastic bins preloaded with the ingredients and coded with the instructions. Just slip one of those in the s…
Well, no, it's not just an automatic wok - there's a consumer experience around an automatic wok. Integrating everything so that there's no human involved whatsoever is a bit more difficult than ordering an automatic wok from Alibaba. If you're trying to serve freshy-cooked meals from a vending machine, there is so much more going on than just the heating elements. Just to pick one: the supply chain is a real issue.…
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25% to 40% I see by labor statistics. That's quite a margin.
Food prep is a small portion of that, you also pay people to clean the bathrooms, take orders, handle inventory and disputes, etc. Food prep on it's own is almost a rounding error. You might be getting 30 seconds of time from people making minimum wage for a combo, but that's about it and even at 15$/hour that's well under 15 cents per order.
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I stated specifically outside not inside. You smell cooking from outside since kitchen's are vented. Now in NYC sometimes the vents are on top of a 25 story building and that beautiful NYC post winter stench might cover it up. If a restaurant has a ton of items on the menu I guarantee you that most of that is just prepared food that is microwaved. Seems like people are mad that I believe that most food in restaurants…
> Seems like people are mad that I believe that most food in restaurants are not cooked. People should be mad at falsehoods. What better use is the feeling for?
I stated I didn't know Applebee's changed the way they prepared food and that's good.
My point is robots can cook most of what we eat out.
I'm surprised Moley ( http://www.moley.com/ ) didn't get a mention. I'm super excited about robotic food preparation, especially in the case of consumer facing robotics where its a unit in your own kitchen. With that said, from the robotics progress I've seen/studied, more fundamental robotics progress needs to be made first. The approaches used right now are just not durable/reliable enough for mass market adoption.…
In response to this (and the price mentioned in sibling comments of $15k+), I recently heard about Tovala [1] which seems like a good alternative. It doesn't appear to be as complex, but I don't think robotic cooking has to be. [1] https://www.tovala.com
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I don't think people are "mad". But you have a track record of saying trivially disproven, unsubstantiated things on HN and you backtrack poorly from them, then you sprinkle in weirdly fixated antagonism like "NYC post winter stench". It's bad posting, and it's wrong besides--the gap between "they don't cook anything" and "they fry frozen appetizers and cook everything else as anyone else would" is not so small that…
> I don't think people are "mad". But you have a track record of saying trivially disproven, unsubstantiated things on HN and you backtrack poorly from them I either state my person experience from many years ago. (Don't need to present a research link) OR I present my research. Sorry you don't find me as a positive addition on HN. I was stating my personal experience of working at a restaurant that had their meals p…
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Any price change will not be radical. Wages account for about 25% of the cost of fast food, but these robots are not free and any savings will result in price drops only if the price change also increases profits. Instead, more money may be spent on better ingredients or marketing. Do not expect a 25% price drop. With regard to health and safety, the robots will provide only small benefit. Humans are better equipped…
The market will produce those that work savings into the price. We can't make blanket statements denying that? The automated food industry is very, very good at producing quality safe food. And I reject that humans will still be storing nor handling food - a truck backs up, exchanges pallets with a food container carousel, the truck drives away with the empties. Robots all the way!
But yes, I think you can make a blanket statement that decisions will be made on the margins and any savings to the consumer will be incidental.