On 1 April, the same day California's new 20 hourly minimum wage for fast food workers went into effect, a new restaurant opened in north-east Los Angeles that was conspicuously light on human staff. CaliExpress by Flippy claims to be the world's first fully autonomous restaurant, using a system of AI-powered robots to churn out fast food burgers and fries. A small number of humans are still required to push the buttons on the machines and assemble the burgers and toppings, but the companies involved tout that using their technology could cut labor costs, perhaps dramatically. "Eat the future," they offer. I visited CaliExpress last week to find out what an all-American lunch served with a side of existential dread tastes like.

Burger fans in Pasadena, California will soon get to taste the future of fast food: a patented, AI-powered, short-order-cooking robot named Flippy. Flippy's makers said the new dining spot will be'the world's first operating restaurant where both ordering and every single cooking process are fully automated.' In addition to Flippy, responsible for deep frying chicken nuggets and French fries, a fellow'BurgerBot' will be grilling up patties, and a biometric payment system, PopID, will take customers' orders. While Flippy got its first job in the fast food industry back in 2017, serving at 50 CaliBurger restaurants after training, the new'CaliExpress by Flippy' will be the first time the rail-mounted mechanical arm will get to work with more of its own kind. Holding company Cali Group -- which owns Miso Robotics, the firm behind Flippy -- said it hoped the new CaliExpress will'inspire the next generation of kitchen AI and automation entrepreneurs' by offering educational tours and robotics exhibits.