Zume Pizza has been busy over the past year introducing a pizza-making robot that can make a dough in nine seconds, and more recently rolling out a line of food trucks containing up to six ovens that can cook while driving.
Now, Zume Pizza has introduced a new six-axis robot that provides end-to-end automation for one of the most dangerous tasks in the kitchen: managing the oven.
The robot, called Vincenzo, is responsible for recognizing when a pizza crust hits its peak in the oven before taking each crust from the kitchen’s 800-degree oven and moving it to a shelved pie rack. Zume said Vincenzo can fill an entire pie rack within four and a half minutes without tearing the dough or dropping toppings. The robot bases its decision on Zume’s proprietary predictive analytics to recognize which pie corresponds with each rack slot.
Zume said it developed Vincenzo because workers in food prep are more likely to be injured than those in private industry, with one-third of occupational burns occurring in restaurants. The robot prevents workers from exposing their arms to the hot oven hundreds of times a day.
“As we continue to grow and scale across new food types and markets, it’s imperative that we create an environment that’s safe and fulfilling for our employees and that we continue to build a dream team of executive leadership,” says Alex Garden, CEO and Chairman of Zume, Inc. “With the addition of Rhonda and Vincenzo, we’re designing a workplace that’s creating meaningful careers all while upending the food delivery industry.”
