SAN JOSE, CA – After a round of venture funding, Chowbotics Inc. has gathered $5 million to put toward developing and distributing foodservice robots like “Sally”—the company’s flagship salad-making robot.
“Back in the 60s you had computers the size of a room that were astronomically expensive,” Chowbotics CEO and Founder Deepak Sekar told Tech Crunch. “Then you had the mini-computer which was more accessible for businesses in the 70s. It took another decade or so for the personal computer to come around. Right now, the food industry is facing a mini-computer phase where robots have come out of the factory and are going into commercial kitchens.”
The company has recently finished pilot production on its Sally program.
The salad-making robot uses 20 different food canisters to prepare and serve more than 1,000 different types of salad. While Sally could be used in commercial kitchens, it’s interface—complete with a touchscreen and credit card reader—is optimized for self-serve environments in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, and food courts in airports, malls, and hospitals.
The newly-raised capital will go toward hiring, manufacturing, and research, as the company develops new robots that can prepare different foods for different environments.
For now, salads made by Chowbotics’ robot can be precisely measured so customers can measure how many calories are going into their meals, and Sekar told Tech Crunch he is hoping that fast food and quick service restaurants will start using Sally to attract more health-conscious patrons.
Could automated salads be the next big thing, boosting produce sales in restaurants across the country? For more on this and other innovations in the produce industry, check in with us at AndNowUKnow.
