INDIANAPOLIS — Chipotle is experimenting with artificial intelligence in its kitchen to cook and season the Mexican Grill's signature tortilla chips.
Appropriately named "Chippy," the robot is trained to replicate Chipotle's exact recipe of corn masa flour, water and sunflower oil to cook the chips, then season them with salt and finish them off with just the right amount of fresh lime juice.
If it works the way it's designed, the robot should produce essentially the same chips every time, only with a slight human touch.
"Everyone loves finding a chip with a little more salt or an extra hint of lime," explained Chipotle's Nevielle Panthaky. "To ensure we didn't lose the humanity behind our culinary experience, we trained Chippy extensively to ensure the output mirrored our current product, delivering some subtle variations in flavor that our guests expect."
Chippy is still practicing chip-making in a lab in Irvine, California, but is expected to move into a real restaurant later this year.