Blending cheese and AI to make cheap pizza pie: That's a robot

The global pizza market is estimated at about US$130bil (RM572bil) in sales, according to Pizza Magazine's 2022 Pizza Power Report, and more than a third of that business is in the US, where Americans spent about US$45 billion on pizza in 2021. — Pepperoni photo created by azerbaijan_stockers - www.freepik.com

In an office park in Hawthorne, a robot built by rocket scientists is making pizza.

Inside the machine, a box roughly the size of a cargo van, a metal claw plucks a ball of premade dough out of its refrigerated chamber. A press then smashes the dough into a 12-inch disc. On a conveyor belt, a nozzle spits out sauce, dispensers shake cheese and toppings on top, then a robotic lift carries the raw pie to one of four 900-degree deck ovens. Cameras and sensors track the progress from step to step, making tiny adjustments along the way. In 45 seconds, a finished pizza pops out.