Robots make a smash in Chipotle kitchens

And about a year ago, Chipotle announced a collaboration with Vebu Labs, an automation and robotics company focused on the food industry. Since then, the two companies have worked together to build the Chipotle Autocado, an avocado processing collaborative robot prototype that peels, cuts, and cores avocados. Employees then add ingredients, seasonings, and finally mash it all up by hand.

“Hand-mashed guac is such a big part of what we are as a brand,” says Logan Hull, senior director of digital restaurant experience at Chipotle. “We approached this from the lens of, ‘How do we make part of that task easier for our crew members?’”

Huge time savings

While Chipotle and Vebu Labs are still tinkering with Autocado’s design, they estimate the collaborative robot, or cobotic, prototype could cut guacamole prep time in half. Chipotle’s goal isn’t to cut jobs, though, but to free up employees from mundane tasks so they can focus on more complex work, Hull says.