The robotic technology startup behind the burger-flipping robot, Miso Robotics, announced a collaboration with Inspire Brands’ Buffalo Wild Wings on Thursday.
Flippy Wings is a “robotic chicken wing frying solution” that helps brands maximise chicken wing output, especially when kitchen staff is limited.
“Technology is making a fundamental impact on the end-to-end restaurant operational model,” Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands, said in a statement. “Intelligent automation including AI and robotics will not only transform how we communicate with and take orders from our guests but also how we prepare and serve food to those guests. This transformation will ultimately result in improved efficiencies in our restaurants and an overall elevated experience for our guests and our team members.”
In 2018, Miso Robotics introduced Flippy, a burger-cooking robot arm, as a simple way for restaurants to save money on labour. Flippy was even put to the test in Walmart’s kitchens. In 2020, White Castle enlisted its fleet of Flippys.
With a new robot called Flippy Wings, or “Wingy,” the company is pursuing the next step in its worldwide robotics dominance strategy.
Wingy can fry chicken wings and place them in a hot holding area for kitchen staff to pick up and serve when they’re ready. Miso’s preliminary testing reveal a 10-20% improvement in productivity speed when the robot is used, as well as fewer oil spillages.
According to Miso Robotics, Wingy will make restaurants safer by removing the risk of human restaurant staff accidentally burning themselves. “Team members are able to cook more while spending far less time attending to the deep fryer,” reads a press release.
“Flippy Wings fries fresh, frozen or hand-breaded products like a pro, avoiding cross-contamination and increasing throughput while reducing costs,” CEO Mike Bell offered enthusiastically in the statement.
Miso Robotics has high hopes for the kitchen assistant. It has already worked with restaurants such as White Castle and plans to collaborate with other robotic technology companies in 2021 and beyond. Hopefully, the day will never come when Wingy turns on its human masters and starts throwing boiling oil in their faces. However, technology like this has the potential to eliminate jobs in the foodservice industry.
