How Junior Student Dream Came True in San Francisco

San Francisco robot burger

A crowd of curious individuals gathers around the transparent 14-foot-long ‘’culinary instrument’’  in a restaurant called creator in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. The restaurant realizes the dream of a former Santa Barbara student who moved to San Francisco.

It would sound unrealistic to get robot-made burgers in the past, right?

Well, now it is there for customers. The hamburger-producing machine sits in Creator’s airy 2.200 square-foot-space.

The place is in high demand for its bi-weekly lunches. The exciting full opening will be in September.

The restaurant is not far from where the Elon Mask –founded Open AL lab recently tested a robot hand named Dactyl.

The Creator’s parent company is a culinary robotics firm founded by 33-year –old Alex Vardakostas. His family owns the two Orange County A’s Burgers locations.

San Francisco Founder Got Idea as a Student

Alex got inspired to create a robot burger-maker while he was a junior at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“I realized it’s incredibly unhealthy –inhaling grease-laden vapors and soot all day.  It was an exciting idea for me to have this beautiful instrument and take control of it’’, said Vardakostas.

He focused on creating a healthier work environment. His goal was to offer high-quality food at a reasonable price.

Four years after he built his first hamburger-making robot in his childhood garage. The desire to make a hamburger-making robot would not stop him from driving all the way down to Orange County to get the parts together.

A move to San Francisco and a collaboration with 32-year-old Steve Frehn led to the second rendition of the burger machine.

Now the version four, the machine, comprised of food-safe plastic tubes and over 350 sensors run by software and 20 computers.

At Creator, there’s more to the staff than just a robot. All burger sides are human-made.

Visitors can taste four kinds of burgers, including the Tumami of Top Chef’s Tu David Phu.

Wondering about the portion of sauces and seasoning that robot adds? Eventually, customers will get to control it.

For now, Creator is the only home to two burger –making robotic machines.

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