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Nala Robotics announced the launch of Pizzaiola, a fully autonomous pizzeria robot that can prep salads and cook pizzas, burgers, wings and pasta. The 7-axis robotic chef operates in a 12′ by 12′ space. 

Pizzaiola uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to precisely replicate pizzeria-style foods. The robot is able to cook up to 50 pizzas an hour, with 35 different choices of toppings and cheeses, five dough types and four different sauces. 

The system is equipped with natural language processing features, so it can respond to voice menu orders. After taking orders, it uses its robotic arms to select and press the dough, add sauce, cheese and toppings and cook the pizza. After cooking, the robot slices it and boxes it in 8-, 10-, 12-, 14-, 16- or 18-inch sizes.

“Pizzaiola is a fully robotic pizza maker that can cook up to 50 pizzas an hour, providing consumers with an endless array of customized choices and styles, from Chicago to Neapolitan and everything in between,” said Ajay Sunkara, cofounder and CEO, Nala Robotics. “Most importantly, our model allows kitchens to seamlessly add friers, grills and other food making and prep stations within the same 144-square foot area to offer additional menu items, such as fries, bowls, burgers, wings, salads, pasta and more.”

The kitchen’s modular setup, which allows for customizations like adding fryers and grills, also allows users to pick from a variety of pizza ovens, including traditional, conveyor style and brick. 

Pizzaiola checks more than 1,200 parameters, ranging from robot field of vision and food quality to point-of-sales, every microsecond.

“While the restaurant industry continues to experience labor shortages, consumers still crave unique dining experiences,” Sunkara said. “The Pizzaiola platform enables restaurants to serve a variety of popular dishes beyond pizza that will increase revenue per square foot, as well as helps fill employment gaps associated with brick-and-mortar establishments. Our own analysis has shown that Pizzaiola can provide the same output as two full-time workers, plus it’s capable of working 24-7-365, while yielding a solid return on investment in less than two years.”

Pizzaiola is available as a restaurant-as-a-service with monthly leasing options. Nala Robotics also offers the Nala Chef, a robot that uses machine learning to replicate an infinite number of recipes with precision. 

Robotics making waves in the restaurant industry

Miso Robotics, the company behind the Flippy fry-cooking robot, announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Miso Robotics plans to begin testing the software powering Flippy 2 and Flippy Lite using AWS RoboMaker. 

With AWS RoboMaker, Miso Robotics is able to run up to 50 simulations at once. AWS validates simulations to build a stable baseline for any software updates or new architecture, simplifying the testing process. 

“Integrating into AWS RoboMaker has been a gamechanger for us to scale our products and make sure the software and its updates are ready to deploy with units in the field,” Chris Kruger, CTO of Miso Robotics, said. “We will go from running 12 simulations a month with single units to doing 100 in a night. By testing hundreds of configurations in parallel, we are able to save costs and develop products faster.”

Flippy has been deployed with both Jack in the Box and White Castle locations across the country. Flippy 2, the company’s latest edition of the robot, is able to handle about 60 frying baskets per hour, according to the company.