A new kitchen robot in Abu Dhabi can cook four hot dishes at once, with each meal ready in about four minutes.
Circus Group’s CA-1 is being tested at First Clique in Paragon Mall with the catering company Royal Prestige.
The German company says the Abu Dhabi installation is its first in the UAE and that it hopes to expand to hospitals, universities, shopping malls, petrol stations and airports, where fresh food can be harder to find.
“The goal is to help people have great food in places where they normally don’t have food,” Michael Bassler, Circus Group shareholder, told The National.
The CA-1 has 36 silos for solid and liquid ingredients, four induction plates and two robotic arms: one cooks and the other serves.
Its current menu has 10 dishes, including chicken fajita, chicken biryani, lentil soup, chicken curry and pasta. Depending on the menu, the machine can make up to 50 hot meals or 100 cold meals an hour.
One load of ingredients can produce up to 200 dishes with the current menu configuration. Ingredients are kept in temperature-controlled silos and usually replaced within 48 hours.
“If you already have a restaurant, it’s a very good question: why do you need the CA-1?” Mr Bassler said. “The best locations we focus on are places where you have no food or really bad food.”
'Made with love'
The company is looking at 24 hour sites such as petrol stations, central stations and airports. Mr Bassler said Abu Dhabi Airport’s VIP terminal would be a good fit.
The Paragon Mall site is being used as a showroom where customers can try the meals. Mr Bassler said customers have been eating there for about two months.
Sana Pathan, 24, from India, tried the quinoa salad and chicken biryani.
“For something made by AI, I think this biryani is really fresh and it feels like it’s made with love,” she said. “It does really taste human-made.” She said she would like to see the technology in restaurants and public places, including beaches, sports centres and university campuses.
Meals start at Dh40, with a chicken curry at about Dh48. Mr Bassler said the machine costs about Dh1 million.
“The big goal is to find the best locations where the clients can make the money back,” he said.
Circus Group has about 10 machines operating in Germany, including at Mercedes-Benz and Meta sites, and at a supermarket chain.
It was founded five years ago and spent about four years developing the CA-1 before entering the German market around a year and a half ago. It also makes a smaller machine, the CA-A, for smoothies and protein shakes.
“It’s like a small vending machine, just for fresh smoothies,” Mr Bassler said. The company is developing a larger version for military use.
Circus Group is updating the CA-1’s software and visual recognition system to improve cooking and detect when food may be burning.
Customers in Germany can order through touchscreen or, or speak to the machine for meal recommendations based on their dietary needs. Those options remain to be tested in Abu Dhabi.
Not replacing people
The robot does not remove the need for people to load ingredients, handle orders and serve meals. Dylan Frayne, Circus Group’s culinary research and development chef, develops and tests recipes before they are programmed into the machine.
Asked whether the robot could replace his job, Mr Frayne said: “It hasn’t replaced my job. It’s given me a another job.”
Mr Bassler said the CA-1 was meant to give people another way to get a quick, freshly cooked meal, rather than replace restaurants.
“You will always have restaurants. You will always have chefs in restaurants,” he said. “We don’t replace anyone in this scenario. We offer an additional option for people to have fresh food that didn’t exist before.”