A hospital in Germany already has robots making meals. The automated system was tested in a ghost kitchen, and could be a solution to the shortage of skilled staff in Germany’s food service industry.
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00:01Are the days of microwave meals numbered?
00:06Will snack vending machines go on strike to protest their redundancy?
00:12Out of order. Ah, shame.
00:15Here at the University Hospital in the German town of Tübingen,
00:18a new cook is causing quite a stir because it's a robot.
00:23And it can prepare up to eight dishes at the same time,
00:30equipped with two arms and sophisticated AI-powered software.
00:34In one day it can make up to 3,000 meals, and in theory 24-7.
00:41The system was developed by Hamburg-based startup Goodbytes
00:44and is one of the first models already at work.
00:47We want to make it possible for people to have access to freshly cooked meals 24 hours a day.
00:56So, if you're on a night shift at the hospital and get hungry at 1am,
01:00then our system would enable you to get something fresh even at that time of night.
01:08Close to 12,000 people work at the hospital,
01:11and each year around 400,000 patients and their families need to be fed.
01:18A lot of the staff work night shifts,
01:20which means they need catering later in the day too.
01:23So that's where the kitchen robot comes in very handy.
01:29Ultimately, it'll take the place of pizza delivery services,
01:32who come up here up to 40 times a night.
01:34And it offers an alternative, especially for staff.
01:37The hospital has two canteens and a number of cafeterias,
01:42operated by an external provider.
01:44Warm meals are only available at lunchtime.
01:47Providing food outside core hours is labor-intensive.
01:51And in Germany, that labor is in short supply.
01:54It varies depending on whether it's hotels or regular restaurants.
02:01In Germany, there are around 6,000 to 8,000 vacancies in catering that are currently unfilled.
02:07What that means is, one in four jobs in the industry have no takers.
02:12Chefs in particular are hard to find.
02:15A major reason for the many vacancies, the working conditions.
02:19It's no secret that most jobs in the food service sector are not 9 to 5.
02:28Another factor is employees often not being paid for overtime,
02:32and the basic wage is in any case too low.
02:35Basically, I think robots will make inroads in areas that are unattractive for people to work in.
02:41Over time, night shifts, not an issue for the robot.
02:49Although it does need some human assistance.
02:52It can't yet chop up vegetables, for example.
02:55On the other hand, in addition to cooking meals,
02:58the robot can also serve them and do the washing up.
03:01But how does the system work?
03:04This is our fridge module for portioning and storing ingredients.
03:11This is where you restock ingredients by pulling out this part of the supply system.
03:16And once it's refilled, you shove it back in.
03:21And this is our robot module, where it picks up a pan and then goes to the front of the fridge.
03:28There, it picks up the exact portion required to make the requested dish.
03:37The pots rotate. Basically, it's like stirring the food.
03:42And you can define whether that rotation should be continuous or stop when you want to sear something.
03:49Now the robot picks up the pot again and goes to the filling station,
03:54where there's already a bowl waiting.
03:56Next, it takes the bowl to the topping station to do the finishing,
04:00before the meal is served to the guest.
04:10Mmm, tasty!
04:16Startup Good Bites says its robot kitchen could cut labor costs by up to 80%.
04:21Plus, its mechanical cook doesn't take vacations or get sick.
04:25Are machines set to take over most jobs in the catering industry?
04:29Experts aren't raising the alarm… yet.
04:32First, there's the thermomix effect, which has been around for years or even decades.
04:39It means that the introduction of modern technology to kitchens leads to many work steps being standardized and simplified.
04:46This gives staff extra time and scope for other ideas, such as creating a new menu or new recipes.
04:53We actually take a pretty relaxed view, because there has always been technical support.
04:59And instead of being a curse, technical development here really can make work easier.
05:04And the hospital canteen operator stresses that cutting jobs isn't his aim.
05:13At Zodexo, we see the robot kitchen as supplementary, not as a substitute or to suggest that we want to do without staff.
05:22In fact, we need them more than ever.
05:27The canteen of the future might feature more robots than humans, but that doesn't necessarily mean skilled workers in the food service sector will be rendered obsolete.
05:36On the contrary.
05:37You need employees to supply these robots and write the recipes.
05:42They have the huge responsibility of ensuring safety and quality, so they should be paid well.
05:47That's what we're fighting for.
05:49Otherwise, we'll just switch off the power.
05:53People and machines joining forces to alleviate a labor shortage.
05:57Here in Tübingen, they're already serving up a taste of the gastronomy of tomorrow.
06:06.