Enter Chick-fil-A's Robotic Lemonade Factory
Pickpad shines at CES, Refraction shutters, Cyngn raises $33M
And we’re back! What a wild few weeks it’s been… the holidays, new years, and of course CES: where robots of all shapes and sizes stole the show. Before we get to the week’s big roundup, we’ve got some exciting news of our own: Curbivore 2025 is just twelve weeks away, and we’re excited to share new partners like Waymo will be joining us April 10 & 11 in Downtown Los Angeles. Register now!
Chick-fil-A Opens Robotic Bay Center
Not far from Sunkist’s headquarters, a new sort of citrus kingpin is emerging: fast-food giant Chick-fil-A just cut the ribbon on its Bay Center Foods facility. Located 12 miles north of Los Angeles, the 190,000 square foot facility uses a legion of robots to process nearly 1.5 million pounds of lemons per day, freeing up franchisees from having to make the juice on site, a dangerous task that required 10,000 hours of work per day across all stores. The machines on site include driverless forklifts, robotic arms, spinning drums, mechanical jaws, x-ray machines, automated racks and more.
Pickpad Shines at CES
A new “smart pad” system for cafes and to-go focused restaurants stole the show at CES, winning the coveted Innovation Award. The sensor laden Pickpad integrates with existing POS systems and is priced at $9-19 per month, and aims to make it easier for takeout customers to find the right order among that table of cluttered coffee cups.
Did Refraction AI Shutter?
A bit of sleuthing reveals that delivery bot startup Refraction AI seems to have shut down at the end of 2024. Former employees are job prospecting on LinkedIn, the startup’s old founder and chief executive seem to have moved on to new roles, and the website appears to have stopped loading sometime in October. Anyone with more details to share on the matter, please shoot us a line at editor@ottomate.news.
Cyngn Raises $33 Million
Menlo Park, CA-based Cyngn secured $33 million in new funding, with the publicly traded company selling new shares three times in December, via Aegis Capital. The autonomous forklift maker’s stock now languishes at around 56 cents per share, putting it in danger of being delisting from the Nasdaq.
In Other News
Tesla app updates tease forthcoming LA restaurant. AVs race at CES. AI-powered hotel planned for Las Vegas. John Deere pushes autonomous tractors at CES. Coco Robotics heads to Chicago. Avride’s new robot hardware thrives in snowy conditions. Metropolis buys Oosto, may portend push into frictionless checkout.