Let a Robot Make Your Smoothie
Some Walmart stores in California offer contactless kiosks for chilled fruity beverages.
Dec 07, 2020 | 2 min read
BENTONVILLE, Ark.—Walmart is testing robot-making smoothie and juice kiosks at several of its stores in California. Last week, the retail giant opened a Jamba by Blend co-branded kiosk in a store in Dixon, Calif., offering Jamba and Blendid smoothies.
Blendid and Jamba teamed up on the effort to allow Walmart customers to order customized smoothies prepared via a robotic arm, the companies announced in a press release. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Blendid already has at least four other robotics drink kiosks in Walmart stores in California.
“Blendid is on a mission to make delicious and customized food accessible to all using robotics and AI. Launching our first Jamba by Blendid kiosk further expands our goals and accessibility," said Vipin Jain, CEO and co-founder of Blendid. “We’re proud to team up with the leading smoothie brand on this new opportunity to provide a solution for contactless food preparation and delivery which has become imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Blendid’s contactless kiosk includes a robotic arm, blenders, a refrigeration system and numerous dispensers that store and dispense a variety of ingredients including solids, liquids and superfood boosts, the company said.
Customers can place orders in person at the kiosk with their smartphone or they can order ahead with the Blendid app.
Blendid said its proprietary food operating system processes the orders and payment, measures and dispenses precise amounts of ingredients for customized drinks, blends, pours and stores each smoothie until a guest is ready for pickup. The company said the process is completely contactless from order to pickup. The Jamba by Blendid system can serve a fresh smoothie in under three minutes and can process up to 45 drinks an hour and nine drinks simultaneously.
Robots are seeing increased usage from everything ranging from delivery to coffee brewing and cleaning. And the pandemic has sharpened the focus on contactless ways to prepare and deliver food for customers on the go. This past summer, Coca-Cola began updating its Freestyle beverage machines to enable consumers to select, customize and dispense soft drinks by scanning a QR code with their smartphones for a no-touch experience.
Read more about how QR codes are drawing renewed attention during the pandemic in “Code Switch” in the December issue of NACS Magazine.
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