This restaurant has a new secret weapon: a robot that slices the perfect noodle faster than any human
It's a noodle-slicing robot named Foxbot, who can be found at Dazzling Noodles, an open-kitchen restaurant chain in North China's Shanxi province.
Not only does Foxbot make the perfect knife-cut noodles, a specialty of Shanxi, but it does it than any human hand and can clean itself, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.
The masterminds behind the technology are the engineers at Foxconn Technology Group, one of the largest contract manufacturers of electronic devices, most notable for supplying Apple products.
Foxconn has made three noodle-slicing devices for Dazzling Noodles, and a fourth is on its way, reported the WSJ. They're also working on incorporating technology that will allow the Foxbot to handle more cooking tasks.
Foxbot may be quicker and cleaner than human hands, but can the robotic arm produce the same quality noodle that experienced chefs have been hand-cutting for years?
In a blind taste test, one customer enjoyed the robot-arm noodles more, claiming they were chewier.
The Foxconn team is confident they can replicate the traditional noodle with their advanced technology, which allows them to adjust Foxbot's knife by .01 millimeters - the diameter of a human hair - in order to produce the ideal noodle.
"When I first started the restaurant, I realized that food standardization is a must-have if I want to build a Chinese restaurant chain," she told the WSJ. "As a native Shanxi person, I feel that this is my mission to promote knife-cut noodles. I want to inherit it and make it flourish."
As for the jobs of the chefs and staff at Dazzling Noodles, it's too soon to know how they will be affected.