400 Burger Per Hour Robot Will Put Teenagers Out Of Work

Just a quick heads up, high school students. You might want to save your job application efforts for retail gigs, because the fast food space is about to be invaded by robots.

We already showed you an autonomous grillmaster that can monitor and flip an entire grill full of patties. Today’s bot is even more versatile. Not only can it cook the patty, but it can also dice up fresh toppings like tomatoes, pickles, and onions… and it can even deftly stack everything on a toasted bun.

This autonomous marvel was designed and built by Momentum Machines, who just wrapped up a successful funding round to the tune of $18 million. It’s pretty clear why they attracted so much cash.

Keeping a fast food joint fully-staffed can be tricky at the best of times. It can also be kind of expensive, and those pesky human employees can get injured on the job — which adds even more expense due to insurance and can really complicate scheduling.

Robots, on the other hand, will work and work and work as long as they’re properly maintained and allowed to function the way they were designed to function. Even a complex robot like this one that costs around $30,000 will pay for itself rather quickly.

Especially when it’s capable of churning out — sorry, skillfully crafting — up to 400 burgers to customers’ exact specifications every hour.

Your burger could be one of those 400, if you happen to frequent the Bay Area. Momentum Machines is getting ready to open their very first restaurant to show off their bot in a real-world setting. They’ve chosen a spot near the Moscone Center. All they need now are a few meatbags to take care of less robot-friendly tasks, like trash removal and restocking… and occasionally doing a little troubleshooting on the burgerbot.