Chipotle Tests ‘Cobots’ in Several Restaurants

Chipotle has started testing two “cobots,” aka collaborative robots, in its restaurants for the first time.

Autocado, its avocado-processing cobotic prototype developed in partnership with Vebu, is currently operating at its Huntington Beach, Calif. store, while the Augmented Makeline, a cobotic makeline built in collaboration with Hyphen, is in use at the company’s Corona del Mar, Calif. location. Both cobots have been in testing at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, Calif.

“These cobotic devices could help us build a stronger operational engine that delivers a great experience for our team members and our guests while maintaining Chipotle’s high culinary standards,” says Curt Garner, chief customer and technology officer, in a press release. “Optimizing our use of these systems and incorporating crew and customer feedback are the next steps in the stage-gate process before determining their broader pilot plans.”

A Closer Look at Autocado
Autocado cuts avocados, removes their skin and separates their fruit through an automated process. On average, it takes Autocado approximately 26 seconds to fully flesh out the fruit inside an avocado, the company says. In Chipotle locations across the U.S., Canada and Europe this year, the company is expected to use approximately 5.18 million cases of avocados, equivalent to 129.5 million pounds of fruit.

Chipotle adds that the current iteration of Autocado features an updated design and size agnostic avocado processing abilities, meaning that the machine recognizes variability in the fruit and automatically adjusts itself to accommodate the size of the avocados being loaded.

Enhancing Digital Ordering
Chipotle’s Augmented Makeline uses automated technology to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, quesadillas and kid’s meals. Approximately 65% of all Chipotle digital orders are bowls or salads, so the Augmented Makeline can improve employee efficiency and digital order accuracy, ensuring a more consistent experience for digital guests, the company says.

Chipotle has invested in Vebu and Hyphen through its $100 million Cultivate Next venture fund. Introduced in 2022, Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle’s mission and help accelerate the company’s longer term growth plans to operate 7,000 restaurants in North America. There are over 3,500 restaurants as of June 30 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, Germany and Kuwait.