5 Top Food Tech Startups Developing Robotics Solutions

Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the food industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups developing robotics solutions.

Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Food Robotics Solutions out of 365

The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.

The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 365 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 food startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 360 robotics solutions, get in touch.

Miso Robotics automates Fryer Stations

Be it the rate at which a robot assembles food ingredients or how it cooks dishes, food robotics offer reliability and efficiency in food production. Also, as it offers uniform results throughout, brands are able to produce food items consistent in quality and quantity for their customers. This nurtures customer-brand trust which fuels sales. That is why startups develop robotics solutions that allow food businesses to streamline their operations. For example, automating food assembly lines at restaurants improves the throughput rates as well as need minimum human intervention.

Miso Robotics is a US-based startup that automates fryer stations with their artificial intelligence-based robotic kitchen assistant. The startup’s robot, Flippy, supports a full menu of fried products with an auto-bin system. Flippy improves food quality by cooking food exactly to the chef’s specifications. Importantly, Flippy installs overnight without any retrofitting or new equipment, thereby not intervening in daily restaurant operations. Furthermore, Miso Robotics also develops a CookRight vision system to convert conventional grills and fryers into smarter systems.

Pudu Robotics offers Smart Hospitality Robots

Hygienic food production practices are a significant advantage of using robots in the food industry. From robots at warehouses for palletizing to hospitality robots at restaurants, it reduces human interaction with the food products and ingredients. This reduces the chances of disease spread, which is the primary food safety concern at present due to the pandemic. Plus, through robotics, food businesses are able to easily comply with food safety regulations and achieve extended visibility into the production process.

Chinese startup Pudu Robotics creates smart hospitality robots for restaurants. The startup’s BellaBot, HolaBot, and PuduBot are their robot models that assist restaurant personnel in serving food. Pudu Robotics utilizes laser and visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in their robots for accurate positioning and navigation. In addition, their robots ship with dampening systems to avoid food spillage during sudden stops upon obstacle intervention. Pudu Robotics’ solutions reduce direct contact between customers and restaurant staff, thereby ensuring a safe environment for the customers.

YPC Technologies builds Robotic Kitchens

Apart from the complexity of robotic systems, the cost of food robotics installation is a critical factor that limits food companies from integrating this technology. Startups aid this situation by developing robotic solutions that are either retrofittable or scalable to the company’s demands. This way, food businesses do not have to spend high capital on redesigning their space or assembly lines. For example, inventory management robots that are integrable with existing warehouse systems save costs and reduce operational downtime during installation.

Canadian startup YPC Technologies develops robotic kitchens for restaurants. The startup’s standalone kitchens automate the preparation of various dishes using fresh ingredients. In addition, they provide kitchen-as-a-service units to enterprise clients, helping them with labor shortages and staff turnover. The startup’s solution also enables touchless food preparation, minimizing the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.

Alert Innovation creates Inventory Management Robots

The adoption and implementation of food robotics demand a skilled workforce specializing in electronics, embedded, software, and mechanical use cases. But robotic startups are one-stop solutions for food companies to automate their food production. Startups offer robotics solutions from food packaging arms to standalone kitchen designs to improve operational efficiency. Furthermore, this reduces the number of staff for repetitive jobs thereby decreasing expenses. Robots for food processing and automated food grading are examples of systems that speed up food production and quality assessment.

Alert Innovation is a US-based startup that enables e-grocery micro fulfillment centers with Alphabot, an inventory management robot. The startup’s automation solution picks and stores groceries in three temperature zones and supports order capacity expansion by combining bots. The startup formulates multiple redundant paths for the Alphabot, thereby ensuring reliable order dispensation. Plus, Alert Innovation’s mobile robots replace conveyors, lifts, and cranes from the conventional warehouse setup, thus improving the cost-efficiency of floor operations. Furthermore, the startup now builds an automated service supermarket, Novastore, enabled by the Alphabot.

HelloWorld Robotics develops Autonomous Last-Mile Food Delivery Robots

Robotics application in the food industry is not limited to customer-facing businesses such as restaurants and grocery shops. Robots for food sorting, grading, and packaging, among others, are more reliable and accurate than manual processes. Plus, they reduce the operational expenditure of the overall food production. That is why startups utilize innovation in AI and computer vision to better aid food producers and providers to improve their performance.

Malaysian startup HelloWorld Robotics builds an autonomous last-mile food delivery robot, TARS. The startup utilizes 16-channel 3D LiDAR and stereo cameras for navigation. In addition, TARS comes with a global positioning system (GPS), inertial measurement units (IMU), and waterproof ultrasonic sensors to aid navigation systems. To ensure the safety of payload, TARS applies failsafe systems such as low-latency live streaming video and sound alarms when it is lifted. In effect, HelloWorld Robotics’ solution resolves last-mile delivery to make it affordable and efficient.

Discover more Food Tech Startups

Food tech startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on robotics, 3D food printing, alternative proteins as well as personalized nutrition. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the food industry, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more food technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Food Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.