Robot chef cooks 300 burgers a day

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - The one-armed burger-flipping robot sensation that got laid off because it couldn't handle the work is back on the job.

Flippy, the somewhat creepy-looking but fascinating piece of one-armed technology at Caliburger in Pasadena, California, has its job back flipping burgers at the grill station.

Flippy debuted in March to a media sensation, with many wondering if it was the cook of the future.  But it immediately managed to run into problems such as not being able to handle the demand because of the customer crush surrounding its curiosity.   It  also had problems putting the burgers right on the tray when they were done cooking.

But David Zito of Miso Robotics, Flippy's creator, got it retooled and co-workers are now more in-synch on how to work with it and now Flippy is back on the job again.

It turns about 300 burgers a day, seven days a week.  Flippy came into the job when short-order cooks were leaving the kitchen due to the high heat but the owners say it isn't actually replacing humans and on one at Caliburger has lost their job.

Flippy still requires human interaction to work properly but its creators say it can learn from its surroundings and acquire new skills over time.