Discerning foodies will rather not eat food dispensed by a machine because of the questionable ‘freshness’. If you belong to the aforementioned category of foodie, then perhaps Lawson Karaage-kun Robot might just change your mind. Might. For the initiated, Karaage is fried chicken in Japanese and so yeah, this machine is a robot that whips out freshly fried chicken.
Japanese convenience chain Lawson Inc. is testing out the robot starting Tuesday at an outlet in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo. Don’t ask why it is called a robot when it is obviously just another food dispensing machine. It does not even have limbs. All it has is a monitor that has a face of a chicken on it. This ‘robot’ features certain “state-of-the-art” technology that enables it to fry chicken in a little over a minute, as opposed to a whole six minutes using the traditional method.
With the conventional method, fried chicken is prepared and kept warm until someone orders it and that is hardly considered ‘freshly fried’. Since Lawson Karaage-kun Robot can prepare the fried chicken fast, it will allow the convenience store prepare the food only when order is put and thus, serving the fried chicken ‘fresh’. The idea is not only to provide a dose of freshness to cooked food, but also a way to boost productivity.
If the Lawson Karaage-kun Robot proves itself, then the company may adapt it to dish out other types of fried food. The trial robot will only operate during the daytime and it will run in the said store from now till December 28, 2018. If you are in and around Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, you can check out the machine yourself at TOC Osaki Building which is near the Osaki Station.
Below is a video of it in action if you care to know.
Featured image: The Japan Times.
Images: Lawson Inc.
Source: The Japan Times.
