SJW Robotics, a maker of autonomous robotic eating places, has raised a $2 million seed funding spherical, based on an announcement despatched to The Spoon. The Canadian startup’s latest spherical contains investments from Alley Robotic Ventures and movie star chef Tom Colicchio.
Firm CEO and cofounder Nipun Sharma instructed The Spoon the brand new funding can be used to fund the rollout of the corporate’s robotic kitchen system with accomplice Compass Canada. The 2 introduced their partnership final summer season, with Compass disclosing that they’d plans to pilot three RJW robotic restaurant kitchens in choose markets. In accordance with Sharma, the primary Compass autonomous kitchen pilot will launch at a hospital within the Toronto market beneath Compass’s Bok Choy model this spring.
Sharma instructed The Spoon that the Compass deal is indicative of the corporate’s enterprise mannequin: SJW supplies the robotics and AI know-how through a robotics-as-a-service mode, and model companions concentrate on culinary, menu improvement, and advertising and marketing.
Throughout a walkthrough of the RoWok system final yr, we watched because the system dropped pre-cut substances equivalent to hen cubes, inexperienced onions, and julienne carrots from segmented storage siloes in custom-made proportions onto a perforated metal tray. From there, the tray shuttled by a steam tunnel through a conveyor belt (“like a automotive in a carwash”), and the warmed meals was dropped into an oiled wok for cooking. Lastly, the cooked meals was dropped right into a bowl the place sauces have been added, and the meal was prepped for serving.
The brand new self-contained contains refrigerated storage for as much as 350 meals, together with all proteins, greens, sauces, and starches, and might make as much as 60 meals per hour. In accordance with Sharma, the models are ‘actual property agnostic’ and will be arrange anyplace with correct area and utility connections.
You may watch Sharma give a tour of SJW’s RoWok system right here.
