A new generation of robots is mixing salads, building pizzas and brewing coffee

Burger flippers, pizza tossers, and latte frothers, watch your backs: Gordon, Sally, and Kona are coming for you. Over the last few years, a growing army of efficient cost-cutting robots has arrived to automate a range of food prep tasks, from whipping up salads for the Palo Alto lunchtime rush to spicing late-night curry for hungry MIT coeds. They join the ranks of robo-cooks already popular in Asia; in China, there's even a bot-staffed restaurant called Wall.E. Whether serving as sous chef in the kitchen or streamlining your takeout order, there is perhaps no better target for Silicon Valley's appetite for disruption than the food industry. Coffee Maker: Avoid barista side-eye by getting your coffee from a six-axis robotic arm named Gordon.