Robots that fully flesh out avocados and build burrito bowls are now making food for customers at two Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in Southern California, as automation and artificial intelligence continue to enter the fast-food industry and raise fears about the supplanting of workers. Chipotle earlier this week announced the debut of the robots at two locations in Orange County, where customers can watch the “Autocado” in action at Chipotle’s Huntington Beach location on Magnolia Street, and the “Augmented Makeline” at the Corona del Mar restaurant on East Coast Highway. Chipotle said the machines are part of a pilot program before a decision is made on whether to roll out the robots to other locations.
Both robots have been in place for about a month. Company officials stressed that the Autocado and Augmented Makeline are not displacing human workers. “Autocado and the Augmented Makeline will not eliminate any jobs,” Chipotle spokesman Tyler Benson said.
Chipotle officials call the new innovations “cobots” because they say the devices work alongside humans. The Autocado robot can cut, core and peel avocados in 26 seconds on average, reducing the labor necessary to prepare the restaurant’s guacamole so that crew members can assist with other food prep tasks, Benson said. Similarly, the Augmented Makeline robot is an automated bowl and salad maker that dispenses rice, lettuce and other ingredients into a bowl beneath the counter, churning out Chipot.