Poland introduces ‘pioneering’ hot dog

Poland's largest retail grocery chain has gone where no others have gone before by introducing the country's first hot dog-making robot.

The brainchild of convenience store chain Żabka and Kraków tech firm VeloxAlpha SA, the one-armed sausage server called Robbie can complete the task in three simple steps.

Weighing 1500 kg, standing 2.5metres tall and over 2metres wide, Robbie the robot is being hailed as pioneering with Paweł Grabowski, director of impersonal solutions at Żabka Polska, describing it as "the first device of its type on the market."Kalbar/TFN

TFN's Monica Zielinski who popped in for a lunchtime snack said: "The process of ordering the hot dog was quite simple. You click Start on a touch screen menu and select from two hot dog sizes, two hot dog types and six different sauces.

"You can order up to three hot dogs in one order. Once you go through the ordering process, the robot starts making the hot dog."

Describing her lunchtime encounter with Robbie, TFN's Monica Zielinski said: "First the robotic arm pulls a bun out of a closed drawer compartment and puts it on a hot grill to heat and toast it. Then it takes out the bun and slips it under a tube that squirts in your condiment of choice."Kalbar/TFN

Next the robot places the bun on a little metal bed and carefully slides the hot dog into it. The arm uses suctions to pick up a paper sleeve for the hot dog and slips it onto the bun.Kalbar/TFN

Lastly, the robot picks the hot dog up and places it into a stand up tray which lowers and the door slides open when the whole process is finished so you can safely take it out.Kalbar/TFN

She continued: "First the robotic arm pulls a bun out of a closed drawer compartment and puts it on a hot grill to heat and toast it. Then it takes out the bun and slips it under a tube that squirts in your condiment of choice.

"Next the robot places the bun on a little metal bed and carefully slides the hot dog into it. The arm uses suctions to pick up a paper sleeve for the hot dog and slips it onto the bun.

Happy customer: Monica said the experience was quick and efficient but regretted that the company has yet to introduce a vegan version.Kalbar/TFN

"Lastly, the robot picks the hot dog up and places it into a stand up tray which lowers and the door slides open when the whole process is finished so you can safely take it out."

She added: "So if you prefer self-service, this is something for you – especially since the robot has different language options and you don't have to stress about asking for the wrong condiment."

Fuel giant Orlen is also moving towards automation, with a mobile phone app that will improve and streamline the preparation of hot dogs at its petrol stations.Orlen

Weighing 1500 kg, standing 2.5metres tall and over 2metres wide, Robbie the robot is now being hailed as pioneering with Paweł Grabowski, director of impersonal solutions at Żabka Polska, describing it as "the first device of its type on the market."

Fuel giant Orlen is also moving towards automation, with a mobile phone app that will improve and streamline the preparation of hot dogs at its petrol stations.

The app monitors the sausages’ cooking process so that staff don't have to.Orlen

Konrad Słoniewski from the app creators Veturai Automotive said: "We created an application that creates automation of the roller grill supervision.

"It is a camera as well as a small computer that allows the image from the camera to be analyzed. In this image, we detect all the products that are currently on the grill.

"The station employee will not have to monitor the grill non-stop, this information will automatically appear in the system on the display. It is amazing for us that such a combination of two worlds - on the one hand, IT and a fuel company - allows for the digitization of even such processes as monitoring of sausages."