A fast food restaurant in California unveiled the latest addition to its kitchen staff -- a burger-flipping robot appropriately dubbed "Flippy."
Chain eatery Caliburger announced its location in Pasadena is the first to employ Flippy, a burger-flipping robot developed by Miso Robotics.
Officials said Flippy requires a human helper to put the patties on the grill and the robot then takes over cooking duties.
"The kitchen of the future will always have people in it, but we see that kitchen as having people and robots," David Zito, co-founder and chief executive officer of Miso Robotics, told KTLA-TV.
The company said Flippy's artificial intelligence uses thermal imaging, 3D and regular camera vision to sense when to flip or remove a patty from the grill.
"It detects the temperature of the patty, the size of the patty and the temperature of the grill surface," Zito said.
Caliburger said it plans to roll out Flippy robots to all of its locations across the country.
"The key to success in the restaurant industry is consistency. So anytime you go to a Caliburger anywhere you know that the patty will be cooked exactly the same," said John Miller, CEO of Caliburger parent company Cali Group.
Officials said it costs about $60,000 to build a single Flippy robot... so at $15 an hour for a human flipper, it takes about two years to pay for itself.