A German hospital eager to keep its staff happy with warm meals around the clock has turned to a robotic kitchen for assistance, Reuters reports.
The robotic arm prepares up to 120 different meals within minutes using already prepared ingredients, a co-founder of the machine’s makers GoodBytz said.
Standing in the canteen of Tuebingen’s University Hospital in southern Germany, Kevin Deutmarg of GoodBytz pointed at the robot saying “you can see that there is a portioning refrigerator at the back where the ingredients are portioned first.”
Pots on an induction stove then cook one of the meals ordered by canteen guests from a touchscreen display.
“The range includes German classics such as Koenigsberger Klopse (meatballs), lentil spaetzle, cheese spaetzle and chicken fricassee,” said Deutmarg, adding “we have Asian dishes such as Ramen, Pho, Udon Noodle stir fries, rice stir fries with sweet and sour sauce and a wide variety of pasta dishes in Italian style.”
Tuebingen University Hospital’s commercial director Daniela Harsch was full of praise for their robotic kitchen which she said was “not about replacing employees” but “simply a totally sensible addition for us.”
According to Harsch, finding skilled labour is increasingly difficult, especially for irregular working hours which are common at a hospital.
However, the robotic kitchen does not work entirely without people: every day, employees fill the refrigerator integrated into the kitchen module with already cut and pre-cooked ingredients.
The robot arm takes them out and fries, tosses and seasons the desired dish on one of the eight induction plates.
The kitchen robot has been in use at Tuebingen University Hospital since the end of May and dishes cost between six and around nine euros.
