Chipotle Mexican Grill is piloting robots to help prep avocados for guacamole and build burrito bowls in two of its California eateries.
The chain on Tuesday announced it is testing two machines in its restaurants for the first time, with the company looking for feedback from employees and customers before deciding on whether to expand the technology to other Chipotle restaurants.
Dubbed Autocado, the guac helper robot can cut, core and peel avocados in 26 seconds on average, halving the time it takes human workers to make guac. Though the company’s human employees will still have to mash the fruit by hand, the technology could spare them a fair amount of toil, as Chipotle expects to use roughly 5.2 million cases of avocados — the equivalent of 129.5 million pounds of fruit — this year at locations across the U.S., Canada and Europe.
A second collaborative robot, or “cobot,” called the Augmented Makeline, will use automated technology to build bowls and salads, which make up 65% of the chain’s digital orders, according to Chipotle. The automated assembly system disperses a set amount of each ingredient in an order. Chipotle in July said it would train workers on ensuring customers received generous portions after a company probe confirmed 1 in 10 of its restaurants were too meager with their servings .