Miso Robotics Launches Flippy 2 Food Preparation Robot

November 2, 2021

Miso Robotics, which develops intelligent automation for the food service industry, has unveiled the newest model of Flippy, its flagship product. Flippy 2 is based on key learnings and feedback from its partner, White Castle, which deployed the original Flippy system in the Chicagoland area in September 2020, and plans to expand to additional locations once the pilot is over.

Flippy 2 takes over the work for an entire fry station, and performs more than twice as many food preparation tasks compared to the previous version, including basket filling, emptying and returning.

Many of the tasks for back-of-house positions at quick-service restaurants have been labor-intensive, physically demanding and hazardous, given the proximity to hot oil and grills in compact kitchens. Miso said Flippy 2 looks to alleviate these paint points to create a better working environment for human co-workers while also maximizing the efficiency of the kitchen.

During the White Castle deployment, the fast-food hamburger chain said it was impressed and pleased with the productivity gains Flippy brought to their operations. While Flippy helped team members stay in their designated locations, employees noted during the pilot that there was a need for human assistance on both sides of the robot – from the initial point of contact with the uncooked product, to when the cooked food gets placed in the holding area. This required one or two employees at several steps. Basket management wasn’t automated, so the cooking process was not as seamless as it could be, Miso said. 

“We learned so much from Flippy and our partnership with Miso Robotics,” said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. “It’s amazing to see the future of how we provide even better service and even more hot and tasty food to our craving customers happening right before us in real time.”

Flippy 2 features a brand new AutoBin system for lower volume and specialty foods, such as onion rings or chicken tenders. Each bin can hold as much as a full fry basket, be customized for a kitchen’s specific needs, and be delineated for individual products like vegetables and fish to prevent cross-contamination.

Once the product is placed in the bin, AI vision automatically identifies the food, picks it up, cooks it in the correct fry basket and places it into a hot-holding area. Eliminating the transfer task lessens overall human-to-food contact, decreases potential oil dripping and burns caused by lifting and moving baskets, and ensures an entirely closed-loop system where Flippy 2 can operate on its own without human intervention in the middle of the process, said Miso. The company estimates that this can increase throughput by 30% – or about 60 baskets per hour – which is more than enough for high-volume QSRs. Flippy 2 also includes a sleeker design that takes up less space in a kitchen, including a 56% reduced aisle intrusion, 13% height reduction, and less overall cleanable surfaces.

“Like all technologies, Flippy 2 has evolved significantly from its predecessor, and we are extremely grateful for the insights collected from White Castle to truly push its development forward in a real restaurant environment,” said Mike Bell, CEO of Miso Robotics. “Flippy 2 takes up less space in the kitchen and increases production exponentially with its new basket filling, emptying and returning capabilities. Since Flippy’s inception, our goal has always been to provide a customizable solution that can function harmoniously with any kitchen and without disruption. Flippy 2 has more than 120 configurations built into its technology, and is the only robotic fry solution currently being produced at scale.”

In addition to White Castle, Miso Robotics has several other pilot projects with other brands, including its recently announced partnership with Inspire Brands (Buffalo Wild Wings). For additional details on the company, visit the Miso Robotics website here.

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