A robot that can cook and serve chips within minutes is offering a glimpse into what the future of takeaway food could look like in New Zealand.
Rosie, the giant robotic arm behind Hawke's Bay-based food truck Dr Bon Vons, has been attracting curious crowds at the New Zealand Tech Expo in Auckland today.
Customers could order and pay for food on their phones using a QR code, before the robot took over the rest of the job.
Once an order had been placed, Rosie would grab chips from the freezer, lower them into hot oil and cook them twice before dropping the finished product into a cardboard box.
Founder Bono Vossen-Chong told 1News the whole process took about three to four minutes.
“She really does most of the work for us,” he said.
Vossen-Chong said he came up with the idea after attending an AI conference in China last year, where more than 100 robots were being showcased.
Having previously owned a Four Square and run a chicken and chips operation, he began thinking about how the technology could be used in New Zealand's food industry.
"I thought, could this be part of the future of food? So I just thought I'd give it a go and have a bit of fun," he said.
Rosie has proved particularly popular with children, although Vossen-Chong said adults were often just as intrigued.
"Kids love it, they just want to put their hands all over it. Adults often watch it and they giggle and they laugh like kids again," he said.
Getting the robot ready for customers has taken some trial and error, Vossen-Chong said. There had been broken baskets and even a collision with the deep fryers.
"She has caused a few problems," he said. "But there's not too many scratches on her now."
Could more Rosies be on the way?
Vossen-Chong said he was already considering where the concept could go next, particularly in smaller communities where takeaway options were limited or businesses struggled to find staff.
"Imagine every unmanned gas station across the country with one of these. You would be able to grab something to eat within three minutes or four minutes," he said.
He said unlike human staff, the robot wasn't constrained by opening hours.
"Rosie doesn't mind the hours that she works."
While he didn't expect every food truck to swap its cooks for robotic arms, Vossen-Chong said he believed automation would increasingly become part of how food was made and sold in New Zealand.
"The future of food is changing very quickly," he said.
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