Robots are already working in fast-food restaurants - here's exactly what they're doing right now

• $4, $4, $4, $4, and other fast food joints already have robot employees.
• Experts believe this automation $4. Instead, they say the bots fill $4 in food service.
• Here are the tasks that robots in your favorite fast food restaurant are doing.

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Meet the newest fry cook at the US burger chain CaliBurger: Flippy. This robot, which will be installed in up to 10 of CaliBurger's 50 locations, can turn patties on a grill and clean it.

$4 profiled Flippy and its automated peers at fast food joints nationwide. The conclusion: Technology in fast food establishments isn't replacing workers - it's filling an expanding hole in the labor market.

As Business Insider $4, fast food employee turnover rates have hit a record high.

A restaurant that employs 20 people can expect to see 30 workers in the span of a year. The unemployment rate for restaurant workers is also the lowest on record, according to Labor Department data reported by $4.

Dunkin' Donuts CEO Nigel Travis previously $4 that fast food's labor shortage is the industry's biggest crisis this year.

"In this market, employees will leave if they have one bad day," Patrick Sugrue, the chief executive of Saladworks, told $4. "If that happens, having this technology in place makes it easier to deal with."

Here's where robots are filling the labor gaps:

Robots make food preparation easier for fast-food workers

CaliBurger's Flippy does just what the name describes - it flips burgers, easing the chain's need for more line cooks.

Arby's has also installed ovens that roast its beef and automatically switches to holding mode, according to $4.

"That allows night crews to begin cooking for the next day's lunch before leaving, eliminating the need for morning employees to arrive at 7 a.m. to begin the three-hour roasting process," $4.

Some Dunkin' Donuts shops have devices that grind and weigh coffee beans and assess the grind's coarseness, $4 reported. Some shops also have terminals that print out expiration times for different foods, rather than requiring workers to write the expiration labels by hand.

Self-service kiosks free up employees' time to drive more business

$4 and $4 are leading the charge on self-service kiosks.

At Panera, the cashiers that may have taken customers orders in the past may be reassigned to delivering food to tables or food preparation. "There's a craft to making food, and that's hard to replicate with robotics," Panera Chief Executive Blaine Hurst told $4.

Thanks to kiosks freeing up some labor, McDonald's has also $4.

The restaurants report that kiosks have also helped both chains expand their delivery. Take-out, Delivery, drive-thru, catering, and other off-premise orders now $4 - an important new source of revenue, $4.

Other brands have experimented with concept stores. An $4 in Shanghai has friendly robots who take customers' orders.

Grimey cleaning tasks are becoming a thing of the past

CaliBurger's Flippy can not only turn burgers on the grill, but the robot can also clean the grill after use.

Wendy's has implemented a slew of self-cleaning machines, according to the $4. In order to remove the need to clean bacon grease off of stoves, some locations have installed self-cleaning ovens.

Complicated dishwashers have been replaced with new machines that cost $6,500, according to the $4. It saves nearly ten hours of labor per week to ensure bowls, spatulas, and other food prep utensils are clean.

$4 at The Wall Street Journal.