When you go to McDonald’s, would you want a robot scanning your face to place the order for you, without you actually having to say anything? It seems inevitable that this is coming in the future, and a company called CaliBurger (of course), is trying it out.
Using AI and facial scanning technology, the kiosk can identify a customer, pulling up a loyalty account for them and ordering preferences instantaneously and then be given the chance to access their account without actually saying or doing anything. It’s only available right now in the location in Pasadena but could expand to other locations if the trials are successful.
“Our goal for 2018 is to replace credit card swipes with face-based payments. Facial recognition is part of our broader strategy,” said CEO of Cali Group John Miller in a statement.
We’ve talked about facial recognition technology at fast food chains before, see this story on KFC in China trying it. We’re still somewhat skeptical, because what if you want to change your order, and the kiosk can’t do anything about it? You may want a burger with extra cheese and onions, but it’ll give you chicken nuggets instead. That’s a problem.
This company has also committed to using robots instead of people to flip burgers, so we really shouldn’t be surprised. Robots are taking over the world, y’all, and burger flipping robots and order placing kiosks are the tip of the iceberg.
