Chipotle tests ‘Autocado’ prototype in Irvine

Avocados are a popular add-on at build-your-own-burrito chain Chipotle. In restaurants across the U.S., Canada and Europe this year, the company is expected to use approximately 4.5 million cases of avocados. Cutting, coring pitting and mashing that much green fruit can be time consuming. As a possible solution Chipotle Mexican Grill announced the Autocado, an avocado processing cobotic prototype that cuts, cores and peels avocados before they are hand-mashed into guacamole.

“Autocado is currently being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, and it will continue to go through Chipotle’s stage-gate process before being utilized in a restaurant,” Curt Garner, chief customer and technology officer at Chipotle, said in an interview with TimesOC. “We hope to bring Autocado to a Chipotle restaurant later this year.”

The Autocado is part of a collaboration between Chipotle and Vebu, a product development company that works with food industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology solutions.

“Our purpose as a robotic company is to leverage automation technology to give workers more flexibility in their day-to-day work,” said Buck Jordan, chief executive officer at Vebu.

Garner said Chipotle is also interested in leveraging automation technology to its staff.

“We are committed to exploring collaborative robotics to drive efficiencies and ease pain points for our employees,” said Garner.

The widespread use of the machine could have significant impacts on the Chipotle chain as a whole.

“The Vebu team is aiming to improve the device’s processing speeds, which could ultimately reduce guacamole prep time by 50%, allowing Chipotle employees to focus on serving guests and providing great hospitality,” said Garner.

Garner went on to say the Autocado could also assist Chipotle restaurants in maintaining sustainability initiatives and waste-reduction efforts.

“Autocado also aims to increase avocado fruit yield through precision processing, which could lead to millions of dollars in annual food cost savings if the cobot is successfully developed and deployed widely.”

The wide use of machines like Autocado could lead to more application of A.I. in the food industry. In fact, Garner said Vebu is currently developing an artificial intelligence and machine-learning stack to be connected to all its robotic solutions, where applicable.

“The goal is for future iterations of Autocado to use machine learning and sensor fusion to evaluate the quality of the avocados and quantify waste reduction as well as the efficiency of the cutting, coring and peeling processes,” Garner said.

The Autocado isn’t the only artificial intelligence appliance being tested. Chippy, an autonomous kitchen assistant trained to cook tortilla chips and season them with the right amount of salt and fresh lime juice is already being put to work at an Orange County Chipotle restaurant.

“Chippy is fully operational at our Brookhurst Street restaurant in Fountain Valley,” said Garner.

Chipotle is also investing in Vebu through its Cultivate Next venture fund to explore additional innovation opportunities in the restaurant space. Cultivate Next, the company’s $50-million venture fund, intends to make “early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further its mission to Cultivate a Better World,” according to a news release from the company.

Through Cultivate Next, Chipotle previously invested in Hyphen, a food service platform designed to help restaurant operators, owners and chefs by automating kitchen operations. Hyphen’s first product, the Makeline, is being tested as a system that uses advanced software and robotics to automate meal production for all digital orders under the counter while allowing staff to assemble in-house orders on the top of the counter.

Garner said the company sees other areas that could benefit from technology like Autocado, Chippy and Makeline.

“We see opportunities for more automation in food prep and dish washing. These are areas that consistently come up in conversations with crew members,” Garner said. “We also see potential in leveraging A.I. to help our managers be more precise in the amount of food they’re prepping for their restaurants. Anything we can do to help our teams more easily recover from a strong sales day is an area we’re prioritizing.”

Garner assures machines will not be replacing workers at your local Chipotle anytime soon.

“The intensive labor of cutting, coring and scooping avocados could be relieved with Autocado,” said Garner, ”but we still maintain the essential culinary experience of hand-mashing and hand-preparing the guacamole to our exacting standards.”