[cgriswald]

Any price change will not be radical. Wages account for about 25% of the cost of fast food, but these robots are not free and any savings will result in price drops only if the price change also increases profits. Instead, more money may be spent on better ingredients or marketing. Do not expect a 25% price drop.

With regard to health and safety, the robots will provide only small benefit. Humans are better equipped (i.e., we have noses) to detect bad food; and in any case humans will still be involved in the handling, storage, and transportation of ingredients. Although disgusting, cases where the cook doesn't clean the grill properly and people get sick are much rarer than cases where the ingredients are already bad.

I suspect the main benefit of these robots to a fast food chain would be consistency in product and preparation times.

[JoeAltmaier]

The market will produce those that work savings into the price. We can't make blanket statements denying that?

The automated food industry is very, very good at producing quality safe food. And I reject that humans will still be storing nor handling food - a truck backs up, exchanges pallets with a food container carousel, the truck drives away with the empties. Robots all the way!

[cgriswald]

You can imagine the future however you like; however, as you chided a sibling poster, "read the article." The technology on offer does not do those things.

But yes, I think you can make a blanket statement that decisions will be made on the margins and any savings to the consumer will be incidental.