Flippy the fast food robot temporarily decommissioned for being too slow

Pasadena, California

HE was supposed to revolutionise a California fast food kitchen, churning out 150 burgers per hour without requiring a pay cheque or benefits. But after a single day of working as a cook at a Caliburger location in Pasadena this week, Flippy the burger-flipping robot has stopped flipping.

In some ways, Flippy was a victim of his own success. Inundated with customers eager to see the machine in action this week, Cali Group, which runs the fast food chain, quickly realised that the robot could not keep up with the demand. They decided instead to retrain the restaurant staff to work more efficiently alongside Flippy, according to USA Today.

Patrons encountered a sign last Thursday noting that Flippy would be "cooking soon" the paper reported. "Mostly it's the timing," Anthony Lomelino, the chief technology officer for Cali Group told the paper. "When you're in the back, working with people, you talk to each other. With Flippy, you kind of need to work around his schedule. Choreographing the movements of w…