A German-made robotic kitchen is now cooking chicken biryani, curry and pasta at a mall in the capital.
Lunch in Abu Dhabi can now be cooked, plated and served by a robot. A fully automated kitchen called the CA-1 has arrived in the capital, and it can have a hot meal ready in about four minutes.
The machine was built by Circus, a German robotics company, and is being tested at First Clique in Paragon Mall with UAE catering firm Royal Prestige Food Contracts. It is the company’s first installation outside Europe, The National reported.
The menu currently has about 10 dishes, including chicken biryani, chicken curry, chicken fajita, lentil soup and pasta. Meals start at around Dh40, with the chicken curry priced at about Dh48.
How the CA-1 Robot Kitchen Works
The CA-1 stores its ingredients in 36 temperature-controlled silos that hold both solid and liquid items. When an order comes in, the system measures out the ingredients and cooks them on four induction plates.
Two robotic arms do the rest. One handles the cooking, and the other plates and serves the food. The machine can cook four hot dishes at the same time, and a single load of ingredients is enough for up to 200 dishes on the current menu. Ingredients are usually replaced within 48 hours.
At the Abu Dhabi site, the system can turn out up to 50 hot meals or 100 cold meals an hour, depending on the menu. The company says the CA-1 can produce up to 120 hot meals an hour at full capacity and also cleans itself with a built-in dishwasher.
Each machine costs roughly Dh1 million. Circus received approval for the system under the UAE’s Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme in July, clearing the way for commercial use in the country.
Circus Plans for the Robot Kitchen in the UAE
Circus was founded five years ago and spent around four years developing the CA-1 before launching it in Germany about 18 months ago. Around 10 machines now operate there, including at sites belonging to Mercedes-Benz and Meta and at a supermarket chain.
In the UAE, the company is looking at places that run around the clock, such as petrol stations, airports and transport hubs, as well as hospitals, universities and shopping malls. It is also working on a smaller smoothie machine called the CA-A.
“We chose the UAE for our first deployment outside Europe because few markets move this quickly from pilot to scale,” said Nikolas Bullwinkel, founder and CEO of Circus.
Royal Prestige, which serves more than three million meals a year to clients across the UAE, is the company’s local launch partner and will handle sourcing of ingredients from within the country.
The company says the robot is not meant to replace chefs. “You will always have restaurants. You will always have chefs in restaurants,” said Michael Bassler, a Circus shareholder. “We don’t replace anyone. We offer an additional option.”
Dylan Frayne, the company’s culinary research and development chef, creates and tests the recipes the machine cooks. “It hasn’t replaced my job,” he said. “It’s given me another job.”
