MOUNTAIN VIEW (KRON)—Some software engineers are part of the latest Silicon Valley startup and they’re using their skills to make pizza.
Zume Pizza in Mountain View is introducing robots to automate the pizza industry.
Chef Chris Rognstad has taken to the technology.
“Somebody orders a pizza on their phone and instantly the bell rings we’re all over here prepping and we all come to our stations right away a pizza comes down the line it’s going to get sauced and topped by people and put into an oven by a robot,” Rognstad said.
The automation does not stop there.
Zume’s specially equipped trucks finish the baking just as it nears its destination.
“Five to six minutes away depending on the pizza we automatically turn the oven on to start baking the pizza so when we arrive to the customers door the pizza is ready,” said pizza software engineer Josh Goldberg. “This circuitry is what we use to control it from our computer and cloud system to turn the oven on and off at the appropriate time.”
While the kitchen staff still hand cuts the ingredients and makes the dough, Zume is continuing to innovate in an effort to further automate the process.
“Whether it’s a software challenge, whether it’s a robotics challenge a classic mechanical engineering challenge we need a lot of intellectual horsepower to be able to completely renovate and revolutionize the pizza industry,” said Zume Pizza cofounder Julia Collins.
But the question is why do you need a robot to put a pizza in an oven.
“Because it’s awesome why not,” Rognstad said.