Chef Robotics Unveils Versatile AI Robot for Food Manufacturing

Chef Robotics has unveiled a versatile AI-powered robot to revolutionize industrial food production and address labor shortages.

Unlike restaurant-focused automation from companies like Miso, Chef Robotics' AI-driven system targets large-scale food manufacturing, promising increased efficiency and reduced waste in factories producing ready-made meals.

The startup's robot is not limited to a single automation task. It can be trained to perform a variety of tasks, such as scooping out precise measurements of ingredients and placing them in packaging as it moves along a conveyor belt.

Powered by the company’s ChefOS software, the robot can partially automate a food operation out of the box, taking only the space of a single standing human and only requires 120V of power, compressed air and a Wi-Fi connection. Staff can work alongside the robot — reducing the number of staff in production areas.

The AI software integrates with a sensor suite to scan the ingredients,  determining the optimal way to pick up the food. It also scans the remaining food using analytics to determine when supply is running low. 

Chef Robotics has already completed more than 20 million servings in production and plans to gather more data to train ChefOS to ensure its robots are ready for full autonomy.

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“Nobody has scaled intelligent robots at a massive scale,” said Rajat Bhageria, Chef Robotics’ founder and CEO. “Just as Tesla ushered in the EV revolution, so too are we posed to help usher in the intelligent robotics revolution.”

While traditional automation techniques have long been used in the food manufacturing industry, Chef Robotics claims those solutions cannot handle rapid menu changes while operating under capacity.

The robots can handle various portion sizes and can place ingredients into different types of containers with ease. It’s also able to work across multiple layers of a conveyor belt and operates continuously, without the need for a break.

The robots can be operated by a line manager on the production floor and its software can run in multiple languages. The robots can also be packed up and moved around the production area, easily deployable to meet production demands.

The startup’s robots are designed for use in settings like ghost kitchens that handle online food order deliveries. The company’s ultimate goal is to deploy its AI-powered robots in every commercial kitchen in the country.

Chef's software-powered robots have already been deployed with meal delivery companySunbasket and frozen meal producers Chef Bombay and Amy's Kitchen.

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The startup says its robots helped Chef Bombay reduce food wastage by 88% and increased labor productivity by 33% and throughput by 9%.