Pizza Hut is Exploring Delivery Via FedEx Robot

This summer should be a good one for fans of pizza and robots, as Pizza Hut is planning to test a new way of delivering pizzas. The company will be using an autonomous pizza delivery bot in select markets. This will help improve efficiency and will require less support staff. The pizza chain is is working with FedEx and its SameDay Bot, which is a new autonomous device for same day local deliveries.

The SameDay Bot can navigate difficult terrain, including unpaved surfaces, curbs, and even climb steps so that it can get to your door and deliver hot pizza. But it’s not just pizza that FedEx has its eyes on. FedEx is also working with several other businesses and retailers so that they can make it possible to accept orders from local customers, and quickly deliver products to homes or businesses nearby.

Will pizza delivery guys and gals stalk these robots and beat them with baseball bats? What if it runs out of battery power on your doorstep? Do you get to keep it? Do we have to tip our delivery robots? So many questions.

[Trendhunter]

Toyota Tundra PIE Pro Has Pizza-Making Robots On Board

If you like your pizza hot, fresh, and delivered by robots, look no further. Toyota and Pizza Hut have got you covered. The two brand giants recently collaborated to make a high tech pickup truck that has all the gear on board to make pizza on the go, so it can be made to order on its way to its recipient.

The build team at Toyota’s Motorsports Technical Center at the company’s US headquarters in Plano, Texas started out with a full-size Tundra pickup truck, then got to kitting it out with all kinds of goodies. For starters, the Tundra PIE Pro truck runs not on fossil fuels, but on hydrogen power, which it uses to generate electricity for its motor and its robotic pizza cookery.

While that might make treehuggers geek out, it’s the robots that get me all hot and bothered. The truck is equipped with two Nachi industrial robot arms, similar to the ones that Toyota uses on its assembly lines – only smaller. Each robot is responsible for part of the pizza making process – one doing prep, and the other handling packaging and delivery.

The first robot uses its arm to open up one of the truck’s built-in pizza refrigerators, and reaches inside to grab an uncooked pizza. It then carefully maneuvers the pizza into a high-speed professional pizza oven, where it rolls through as it bakes. It takes about seven minutes to cook, and when it pops out the other side of the oven, robot number two takes over.

It’s the second robot’s job to grab the freshly-cooked pizza, and place it onto a special, rotating cutting board, at which point a mechanical pizza wheel raises and lowers itself as the robot turns the pizza, resulting in perfectly triangular slices. Once the pizza is sliced, robot number two fetches it, transfers it to a pizza box, closes the lid, then hands it over to the customer. When it’s all done, it rings a little bell as an added flourish.

I watched the whole thing work like a seamless industrial ballet when Toyota revealed the truck at this year’s SEMA show in Las Vegas, filling the air around the booth with the aroma of fresh-baked pizza, and making mouths of hungry journalists water.

There’s a nifty making of video below from Toyota’s Motorsports Technical Center showing off the design and build process behind the Tundra PIE Pro. Be sure to check it out.

It’s a very impressive build, though sadly, there are no immediate plans for robotic pizza delivery trucks to start hitting the streets. So for now, we’ll just have to rely on those pesky humans.

Pizza Hut’s hydrogen delivery truck hauls a robotic kitchen

Pizza Hut will not be outdone in the pursuit of over-the-top delivery vehicles. The restaurant chain has teamed up with Toyota to unveil the Tundra Pie Pro, a concept hydrogen fuel cell truck that not only cooks pizzas, but uses a pair of robot arms...

Breville Pizzaiolo: The maker of perfect pizza pies

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Dominos may have its 30 minutes or less challenge, but imagine getting the perfect pizza pie, fresh out of the oven, in 2 minutes…

That’s the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo’s promise. Designed to perfectly mimic the heating conditions required for a brick oven, Breville’s Pizzaiolo does all that in a tenth of the space, and right on your kitchen countertop. the Pizzaiolo is a one-of-a-kind device that, in its small frame, can reach temperatures of 750°F and cook perfect wood-fired-style pizzas in just about 2 minutes. Made with brushed stainless steel, this oven is able to replicate the conductive, radiant, and convective heat generated by a brick oven. It features an ‘Element IQ System’ that can replicate the ideal baking environment for different pizza styles (practically everything from New York to frozen pizzas). The natural cordierite stone base provides the perfect heated surface for those crispy, yet melt-in-mouth crusts, and the advanced heating system can cook an entire pizza from scratch in just two minutes. Even instant ramen takes more time!

Designer: Breville

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Recommended Reading: The reality of sci-fi’s AI immortality obsession

Are Hosts, Replicants, and robot clones closer than we think? Jayson Greene, The Ringer Black Mirror already uncomfortably aligns with the real world, but we might be even closer to more advanced concepts from that show and others, like Westworld...

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Wilford Brimley Would Hate this Giant 225lb Gummy Pizza

Simply looking at this massive gummy pizza will give you diabeetus. This insane edible weighs in at 225 pounds and was made by the lovers of all things gummy at Vat19. These are the same folks with that gummy pickle we talked about a not long ago.

It was created to look like another gummy pizza the company sells, only much, much bigger. Each color of the pizza is a different flavor, and single slice weighs in at 28 pounds. Check out the video to see how they made it:

It has orange for the crust, strawberry-banana for the cheese, mango for the banana peppers, green apple for the olives, and cherry for the pepperoni. I CAN HAZ THIS?!

You can buy a slice of this pie for $149.99, which means that for just under $1200, you can replicate the full 8-slice pizza shown in the video.

[via The Awesomer]

Domino’s Is Fixing America’s Roads to Improve Pizza Delivery

America’s roads are pretty crappy. You would think we would invest in more big infrastructure initiatives to improve the country and create jobs. Sadly that doesn’t seem to be the case in most places. Now worries though, Domino’s is on it.

Domino’s pizzas do get pretty beaten up by poorly-maintained roads. The Paving for Pizza website shows us how thanks to pizza-box-cams. Pizzas get hurt by potholes. So Domino’s has been hiring work crews to repair potholes in several cities, including Burbank, California (five holes fixed), Bartonville, Texas (eight holes), and there have been 40 holes fixed in Milford, Delaware, and another 150 potholes filled in Athens, Georgia.

They aren’t doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. Domino’s tags every filled pothole with their logo and “OH YES WE DID.” It’s a good PR stunt and it helps them deliver pizzas that are less banged up.

Good job Domino’s. Keep filling those holes! What other companies can we get to help fix our stuff? Maybe they could help with other areas of our infrastructure next.

[via Jalopnik]

Artist Turns Car into a Pizza Oven on Wheels

New York style… Chicago style… California style… everyone has their favorite kind of pizza. I personally like a super-thin and crispy brick oven pizza like the ones they make in Italy. Now, thanks to one enterprising artist, you can have a delicious thin-crust pizza cooked up inside of a car.

Photos via designboom

Master of absurdist art Benedetto Bufalino took an old Ford Mondeo (aka Ford Fusion here in the states) and converted into an 800 degree wood-burning pizza oven. The artist gutted the interior of the car, and replaced its windows with sheet metal. He built a brick-covered platform inside the vehicle perfect for making delicious pizza in a flash. He simply loads up the back of the old station wagon with wood, sets it ablaze, and gets to cooking.

Sadly, the car no longer drives, but I guess that’s a good thing since this would be a serious hazard on the road. Can you imagine watching flames through the window of the car in front of you and smoke pouring out of its sides? On the other hand, this would make for a pretty awesome food truck… er food car.

This isn’t the first time that Bufalino has done something whimsical with a vehicle. Check out his Instagram page for a swimming pool trailer home, and his upside-down car ping pong table among other things.

[via designboom]

Pizza Box Turns into a Tray for Eating in Bed

I’d never want to eat pizza in my bed because when pizza is in my hands I go all omnomnom and make a huge mess. I’d so get the sauce and random toppings all over the sheets, and wake up with pepperoni stuck to my face. For those who do like to eat in bed, the folks over at Boston Pizza teamed up with John St advertising agency to create the most genius pizza box ever. I mean this is way cooler than that one Apple created.

This box comes to you like any normal pizza box, but it turns into a tray for eating it while lying in your bed. The box includes instructions for converting the box into a bed tray, all while the pizza remains in the box. While I’m still unlikely to eat pizza in bed, I’d totally use it on the couch while I catch up on The Walking Dead.

Sadly, the box isn’t a permanent fixture at Boston Pizza. It’s only for a Father’s Day promotion the company is running from June 6 to 11, so if you want one, you’d better move fast. Now I’m hungry for some pizza.

[via Laughing Squid]