Ocado has launched a new high-tech meal preparation robot at its headquarters enabling staff to customise their meals down to the gram.
Ocado’s headquarters is now home to the world’s first deployment of the Semblr robot, developed by food tech startup Karakuri.
Karakuri describes Semblr as “the world’s most advanced food preparation robotics technology”, which currently feeds Ocado’s 4000 site staff their own unique selection of meal.
Using their smartphones, staff can choose from 17 hot or cold ingredients to be assembled into an Asian food bowl, Poke bowl, Buddha bowl or smoothy bowl.
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Each ingredient can be measured out down to the gram offering a total of 2700 choices, and Semblr is able to produce up to 110 meals per hour.
“Ocado and Karakuri share a vision of automating key elements within the food value chain; this real-life installation is an exciting and long-anticipated moment,” Ocado’s head of corporate development Stewart McGuire said.
“Karakuri is developing systems that sit at the intersection of food, people and technology, and we are delighted to help make their vision a reality.
“As demonstrated by us opening up our canteen, our investment goes beyond financial support, and this ‘living lab’ gives Karakuri a way for them to perform stress-tests in a production environment. Plus, we get to give our staff a sneak peek at the potential future of foodservice.”
