Chipotle Mexican Grill is testing Chippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant that integrates culinary traditions with artificial intelligence to make tortilla chips.
Chipotle's culinary and technology teams called on Miso Robotics to customize its latest robotic solution to cook and freshly season Chipotle's tortilla chips.
"We are always exploring opportunities to enhance our employee and guest experience,” said Curt Garner, chief technology officer for Chipotle, in a statement. “Our goal is to drive efficiencies through collaborative robotics that will enable Chipotle's crew members to focus on other tasks in the restaurant.”
Chipotle's culinary team guided Miso in tailoring its technology to maintain the culinary integrity of the brand. Leveraging artificial intelligence, Chippy is trained to replicate Chipotle's exact recipe—using corn masa flour, water, and sunflower oil—to cook chips to perfection, season with a dusting of salt, and finish with a hint of fresh lime juice.
It was imperative that the technique remained the same so customers receive craveable, delicious chips every time. "Everyone loves finding a chip with a little more salt or an extra hint of lime," said Nevielle Panthaky, vice president of culinary for Chipotle, in a statement. "To ensure we didn't lose the humanity behind our culinary experience, we trained Chippy extensively to ensure the output mirrored our current product, delivering some subtle variations in flavor that our guests expect.”
Chippy is currently being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center, its innovation hub in Irvine, California, and will be integrated into a restaurant in Southern California later this year.
The company is leveraging its stage-gate process to listen, test, and learn from crew and guest feedback before deciding on a national implementation strategy.
Chipotle continues to invest in emerging solutions to support its growing digital business and reduce friction in its restaurants. The company believes technology deployed consistently and correctly can improve the human experience.
Related: 5 Foodservice Tech Innovations to Watch; Miso Robotics Announces Flippy 2.