Hyperactive Bob

Amanda Payne

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Who is Hyperactive Bob?

Pittsburgh's Hyperactive Technologies has come up with a system, based on the computer vision and artificial intelligence systems employed by robots, to manage the kitchens at quick-service restaurants.

His job is to ensure a more efficient experience for consumers and producers at fast-food restaurants.

Problems that need solving

Slow serviceToo much/ too little food being availableStand still drive-thru serviceInventory inaccuracyPoorly trained staff

BOB’s answers

Bob “sees” car traffic into the restaurant, analyzes that visual data in conjunction with historical and real-time point-of-sale (POS) data, and directs kitchen employees in real-time on what to cook, when, and how much.

He has a memory that bases future predictions on what it has learned at a particular restaurant.

The time it requires to train new hires has been reduced from three months to just over a week when using the system.

System

Employees interact with Bob through touch screens in a two-stage process. They touch the screen to indicate they will accept a task, and then touch it again after the task has been completed.

Bob is built on a Windows-based platform with off-the-shelf hardware.

In the field

Hyperactive Bob has been installed in approximately 115 Zaxby's restaurants , various Popeye's Chicken and Jack in the Box outlets.

Zaxby’s had seen a $60,000 increase per store in gross profit, based on increased customer throughput and $8,000 per year in reduced food waste.

The Drive-thru times at participating stores are measurably and consistently lower.

A few drawbacks

The system uses computer vision systems, which tend to be fairly complex, and can sometimes make faulty predictions. I.E. a minivan may have only one person in it or a person in a single car may order food for ten people.

Each store's needs and order patterns differ. Therefore, each system that is set up has to be personalized for thsy particular store.

The Touch Screens have to be able to withstand heat and grease. This makes them very expensive.

Future Goals

There are 125,000 restaurants in the U.S. that could adopt the system.

Hyperactive Technologies hopes to make Hyperactive Bob more wide scale. They hope to eliminate the problem of differences between restaurants and make the system more versatile.

Hope to find more eating patterns in order to make prediction easier. I.E. use past data to predict what people driving certain vehicle types may be most likely to order.

Plans to expand into Australia are already in affect.

Hope to find more cost effective touch screens.