The Robots Continue To Invade The Fast Food Sphere

The last dispatch from The Takeout's robot beat was May 5. That's six whole weeks during which the robots, unbothered by our human troubles, continued making advancements in their quest to replace the human race. As is so often the case, they have set their sights on a new way to optimize fast food, perhaps understanding that this is where they can exert the most influence over us.

Humans have generally understood for decades that the robots have been coming for our jobs, with a capacity for automation that renders many human workers obsolete—in theory, anyway. Recent estimates show that by 2030, a whopping 38% of American jobs will be eliminated in favor of automation. Now, with the entire world in the clutches of a pandemic, it's possible that humans have begun to warm to the robots, which are not perceived to be as germ-covered as humans and can better facilitate social distancing measures (plus, you know, companies don't have to pay them a living wage). With that in mind, KFC is currently testing "fast food of the future" in Moscow. Take a look:

According to Bloomberg, with the new system, the only set of hands to ever touch the chicken is the customer's. After a person's order is prepared and transported via conveyor belt, a robot arm that could probably pop a human head like a grape transports the order to a special heated cell that can only be opened by the customer via facial recognition technology, which is definitely the sort of personal information you want to voluntarily submit to a massive fast food conglomerate. Nothing to fear, folks! It's just a fun, sterile chicken robot that will eventually become the hottest star of Russian TikTok. While we wait for that, we'll continue to scour the headlines for any sign of a robot uprising.