Autocado (robot)

2024: Use in Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain

In mid-September 2024, Chipotle Mexican Grill, an international fast food chain, announced the start of using robotic avocado cleaning devices that aid in the preparation of dishes such as guacamole, salads and burritos.

Newsroom.chipotle.com

Two different types of automated devices are being tested at two California locations. One of them is called Autocado (the developer is Vebu) and is described as an "avocado treatment cobot." The company claims that this robot is capable of cutting avocados, peeling them and separating them into pieces in about 26 seconds. The fruit will then be pressed by hand to make the restaurant's signature guacamole. The developers claim that the machine is able to recognize the natural variability of fruits and automatically make adjustments to work according to the size of the avocado.

While the Autocado robot is used at Chipotle's Huntington Beach branch, another robotic device known as Augmented Makeline is being tested at the chain's Corona del Mar branch. Created in collaboration with Hyphen, the robot makes avocado salads while employees prepare burritos and tacos. This robot automatically distributes rice, corn, lettuce and other ingredients to bowls located under the counter. Considering that about 65% of all digital orders of the Chipotle chain are salads, the robot can provide invaluable assistance to employees. "These devices will provide higher throughput for restaurants, while maintaining high Chipotle culinary standards," said Kurt Garner, chief customer officer of the chain. He added that the company would consider feedback from customers and staff before deciding to introduce new robots at other locations^[1]

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