A Robot’s Nightmare Is a Burrito Full of Guac
Welcome to the future: A robot can now prepare your favorite Chipotle order. Just as long as you don’t want a burrito, taco, or quesadilla. The robot cannot handle those. Your order must be a burrito bowl or a salad, and it must be placed online. Then and only then—and once the robot makes it out of testing at the Chipotle Cultivate Center, in Irvine, California—your queso-covered barbacoa bowl might soon be assembled by the chain’s new “automated digital makeline.”
Announced on Tuesday, the result of a collaboration between Chipotle and the automation company Hyphen looks like a standard stainless-steel Chipotle counter, burrito components arrayed on top. But inside, just above knee level, is a robotic assembly line from Chipotle shows a bowl pivoting through the machine, positioning itself below specified ingredients. White rice tumbles in, some grains scattering about. Later, a cascade of corn. At the end, a bowl ascends from the machine, complete, as an employee folds a burrito and wraps it in foil. Perfect synergy. She smiles widely.
