Chipotle Mexican Grill,  the international chain of fast-casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos and burritos is currently testing collaborative robots  Autocado and the Augmented Makeline by Hyphen at Chipotle restaurants in Huntington Beach and Corona Del Mar, California for the first time.  The   Autocado cobotic prototype cuts, cores and peels avocados before they are hand mashed into guacamole, allowing crew members to focus on assisting with other food prep. On average, it takes Autocado about  26 seconds to fully flesh out the fruit inside an avocado. Chipotle says that restaurants across the U.S., Canada and Europe are expected to use nearly  5.18 million cases of avocados, equivalent to 129.5 million pounds of fruit, this year. Autocado (Courtesy Chipotle)  The Augmented Makeline by Hyphen cobot uses automated technology to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees operate the  Makeline to make burritos, tacos and quesadillas. About  65% of all Chipotle digital orders are bowls or salads. Through its Cultivate Next venture fund, Chipotle invested in Vebu, a product development company that co-created Autocado, and Hyphen, a food service platform that automates kitchen operations. It co-developed Chipotle’s Augmented Makeline by Hyphen. At a time when fast food chains are declaring bankruptcy almost daily for various reasons including a challenging landscape for the restaurant industry,  businesses are in a race to sustain profit margins.   While Chipotle won’t say how the robots are expected to help sustain the more than  3,500 restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Kuwait, Curt Garner, Chipotle’s  Chief Customer and Technology Officer says that they are meant to build a stronger operational engine designed to create a great experience for Chipotle team members. If you want to see if you can taste a difference,  Autocado is operating in Huntington Beach at 20972 Magnolia St.,  and Augmented Makeline by Hyphen is being employed in Corona del Mar at 3050 East Coast Hwy.   The post Chipotle Cobots Make Their Debut In Orange County appeared first on LA Weekly.