Chipotle Hires a Robot to Prepare Guacamole Faster
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Anything worth having is worth fighting for, and that absolutely applies to guacamole. The delicious avocado-based dip deserves its popularity, but before anyone gets to enjoy it, someone has to complete a lot of tedious prep work. Soon, though, we may be able to pass the labor off to robots.
Chipotle is currently testing Autocado, a prototype avocado processing robot developed in collaboration with Vebu Labs, an automation and robotics company. A Chipotle employee still needs to mash the avocados by hand to make the guacamole, but Autocado takes care of the peeling, coring, and slicing. The machine can handle up to 25 pounds of avocados at a time, and takes less than 30 minutes to produce a stainless steel bowl of avocado fruit. The company estimates that it currently takes about 50 minutes to make a batch of its guacamole — Autocado could cut that prep time in half.
Chipotle sees Autocado as a means of reducing food waste, too. The company expects to use more than 100 million pounds of avocados this year across its U.S., Canada, and Europe restaurants. It’s tricky for people to get all the fruit out of an avocado, but the robot, with its consistent and precise processing techniques, could potentially save millions of dollars in food costs every year by increasing the fruit yield.
Though not highlighted by Chipotle, Autocado also has the potential to reduce workplace injuries. So-called “avocado hand” injuries are often serious and, according to OSF Healthcare, send 9,000 people to the emergency room with severe cuts each year.
Autocado is not Chipotle’s first attempt at automation in the kitchen. The restaurant is currently testing other solutions, including a robotic assembly line for burritos and Chippy, a tortilla chip-making robot that mimics the “subtle variations in flavor” that Chipotle customers expect.
