Robo chef whips up pasta in 5 mins

RIGA—A pasta order comes in and the robotic arm springs into action at the Roboeatz eatery in Riga. After five minutes of gyrations, a piping hot plate is ready.

The Riga cafe, located under a crumbling concrete bridge, is designed in such a way that customers can observe the robotic arm at work.

It also has a seating area, although most customers prefer takeaway since vaccination certificates are required to be able to eat indoors in Latvia.

A Roboeatz app allows customers to order and pay for their dish before picking it

up at the cafe.

“The food tasted better than I expected!” said customer Iveta Ratinika, a teacher and a member of the Latvian capital’s education board.

Ratinika said she would encourage schoolchildren to come and observe the robotic arm in action and mused that there could be robots working at the school cafeteria within “a few years.”

Low pay

Roboeatz was set up in January 2018 by Konstantins Korcjomkins and Janis Poruks, who have been running the Woki Toki fast food chain in Latvia since 2009.

Their aim? To revolutionize the fast food industry.

“This robot replaces four to six human employees, reducing labor costs significantly,” said Poruks, who has a background in engineering.

But he stressed that the introduction of such robots would not push up unemployment rates since “people are not lining up to flip burgers.”

“The robot will not replace people who are willing to have a career in restaurants and catering, becoming chefs or other food celebrities. The robot will take those low-paid jobs which most people already do not want,” he said.

Hundreds of recipes

Automated kitchen technology has been gaining interest in recent years, and that has been accelerated by the pandemic.

At a newly opened eatery in Paris, customers can watch robots build, bake and box up pizzas at a rate of up to 80 an hour.

In the United States, a robot named “Sally” belonging to the startup Chowbotics can whip up salads sold through a vending machine.

And, for the ultimate household luxury, a UKbased company last year unveiled a fully robotic kitchen that will set customers back a minimum of $347,000.

The designers of Roboeatz say it is designed to take over some of the food prep tasks while improving food safety and eliminating the infection risks of crowded kitchens.

During a visit by Agence France-Presse (AFP) this week, the robotic arm was programmed to make three different pasta dishes.

Its creators say it can be programmed to make hundreds of recipes, taking into account the owner’s favorites and food allergies.