[ti:Robots Are Making French Fries Faster] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Fried foods like French fries and onion rings [00:04.16]are going high-tech thanks to a company in Southern California. [00:10.00]Miso Robotics Inc. has released its Flippy 2 robot. [00:15.52]The robot automates the process of [00:18.04]deep-frying food like potatoes and onions. [00:22.48]The robot uses a large robotic arm like those used in auto plants. [00:28.72]It is directed by cameras and artificial intelligence. [00:34.08]It takes frozen French fries and other foods out of a freezer, [00:38.72]puts them into hot oil, [00:41.12]and then places them ready-to-serve into a container. [00:46.28]Flippy 2 can cook several meals [00:48.68]with different cooking processes at the same time. [00:53.68]Miso says this reduces the need for employees [00:57.48]and speeds up the time for people [01:00.00]to get their food at drive-through windows. [01:03.92]Miso Chief Executive Mike Bell said that [01:07.68]when an order comes in through the restaurant system, [01:11.44]it automatically tells Flippy what to do. [01:15.60]Bell added, "It does it faster or more accurately, [01:20.00]more reliably and happier than most humans do it." [01:25.28]Miso said it took five years to develop Flippy. [01:29.92]And it recently made the robot available for businesses to buy. [01:35.32]The robot's name comes from an earlier robot named Flippy. [01:40.44]Flippy was designed to flip fast-food burgers. [01:44.68]But once Miso's team finished that machine, [01:48.60]they saw there was a greater need at the fry station, [01:52.80]especially late at night. [01:55.68]Bell said people do notice Flippy 2 -- but only at first. [02:01.64]He said when they put a robot in a location, [02:04.76]buyers that come up and order, [02:07.48]"they all take pictures, they take videos, [02:10.64]they ask a bunch of questions [02:13.16]and the second time they come in, [02:15.16]they seem not to even notice it." [02:18.60]Miso engineers can watch Flippy 2 robots [02:22.00]working in real time on a screen. [02:25.56]That permits them to deal with any problems that come up. [02:29.40]Several restaurant chains have started using the robotic fry cook. [02:34.48]Bell said they include Jack in the Box in San Diego, California, [02:40.08]White Castle in the Midwest and CaliBurger on the West Coast. [02:46.16]Bell said three other big U.S. fast-food chains have put Flippy to work. [02:51.84]But he said they are unsure about advertising it [02:55.36]because some people may have opinions [02:57.60]about robots taking away jobs from humans. [03:01.96]Bell said the jobs that humans are happiest to offload [03:05.92]are jobs like the fry station. [03:09.12]He added that workers are happy to have help [03:11.96]so they can do other things. [03:14.96]Miso Robotics has around 90 engineers. [03:19.60]They work on new technology or work on computer language. [03:24.88]One of the company's next projects is Sippy. [03:28.32]Sippy is a drink-making robot [03:31.24]that will take an order from a buyer and prepare drinks, [03:35.64]including preparing things like the lid and the straw. [03:40.12]Bell said that in the future, people will "walk into a restaurant [03:44.40]and look at a robot and say, 'Hey, remember the old days [03:48.64]when humans used to do that kind of thing?' [03:51.88]"And those days ... it's coming. ... It's just a matter of ... how quick." [03:58.24]I'm Gregory Stachel. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM