【文章标题】：烤糊了？为什么机器人披萨师傅纷纷折戟
【文章正文】： Overcooked? Why robotic pizza makers are failing 烤糊了？为什么机器人披萨师傅纷纷折戟
The “dough feeder”. The sauce and cheese modules – even the pepperoni-sprinkler. All lay still. “面团投喂器”、酱料奶酪模块，甚至意大利辣香肠撒料机——这些设备如今全都陷入沉寂。
A now defunct duo of robots were supposed to be churning out pizzas at a Moto Pizza restaurant in Seattle. 西雅图Moto Pizza餐厅里，原本应该日夜不停制作披萨的两台机器人现已报废。
However, in May the pair were rendered “basically useless” when their supplier, Picnic, abruptly shut down. Technical support for the robots evaporated at that moment, says Lee Kindell, founder and chief executive of Moto Pizza. 但今年五月，当供应商Picnic突然倒闭时，这两台机器变得”基本报废”。Moto Pizza创始人兼首席执行官李·金戴尔表示，技术支持也在那一刻荡然无存。
He was left wondering what to do with the $160,000 (£118,000), cabinet-like machines and whether buying in pizza bots was really worth it. 面对这两个价值16万美元（11.8万英镑）的柜式机器，他开始思考如何处理它们，以及购买披萨机器人是否真的值得。
“I don’t know if I want to do a partnership again because of the failures,” he says. “因为这些失败案例，我不确定是否还要寻求合作。“他说。
The robot pizza-making business has, it’s true, been littered with sorry tales of overcooked promises and melting fortunes. Besides Picnic, other companies that have come and gone include Zume and Pazzi, which used robot arms to assemble pizzas, as well as Basil Street, a purveyor of pizza vending machines. 机器人披萨行业确实充斥着承诺过热而财富熔化的悲剧故事。除Picnic外，昙花一现的企业还包括使用机械臂组装披萨的Zume和Pazzi，以及自动贩卖机运营商Basil Street。
Although so-called fast food might seem an easy target for automation, it’s proved harder than many expected. Plus, bringing robots into pizza restaurants could take away entry-level jobs in the hospitality sector. Is the future really filled with robotic pizza? 虽然快餐看似是自动化改造的简单目标，但实际难度远超预期。此外，引入机器人可能剥夺餐饮业的初级工作岗位。未来真的会遍布机器人披萨吗？
“We haven’t yet seen any of the success stories materialise the way some people thought they would,” admits Sara Senatore, senior restaurants analyst at Bank of America. Her employer has financial interests in multiple high street pizza chains including Papa Johns and Domino’s. 美国银行高级餐饮分析师萨拉·塞纳托尔承认：“我们尚未看到任何成功案例以人们预期的方式实现。“该银行在棒约翰、达美乐等多家披萨连锁企业持有股份。
Food preparation bots are sometimes clumsy – dropping ingredients in the wrong places at times, she explains. Conversely, “Humans are very efficient at making pizza.” 她解释道，食品制备机器人有时很笨拙——会把食材撒错位置。相反，“人类制作披萨的效率非常高”。
But Kindell, despite his frustrations with Picnic, is surprisingly undeterred. He is a fan of full automation. “I want to be able to walk up to, let’s say, a type of kiosk, put in your order, and it makes a fresh pizza,” he tells the BBC. 但令人惊讶的是，尽管对Picnic感到失望，金戴尔并未却步。他是全自动化的拥趸。“我希望走到一个自助终端前下单，就能得到现做披萨。“他告诉BBC。
Kindell, who once made all his dough by hand – until an elbow tendon injury forced him to investigate using machines instead, is now working on his own version of a pizza-making robot. 这位曾经手工揉制所有面团（直到肘部肌腱受伤迫使他改用机器）的创业者，如今正在研发自己的披萨机器人。
He declines to share details but the contraption will make square pan-style pies and that the machine is inspired by the way 3D printers work. If things go well, he says he could have a fully operational version of the device by the summer of 2027. 虽然拒绝透露细节，但他透露这台装置将制作方形铁盘披萨，其设计灵感来自3D打印机工作原理。他表示若进展顺利，2027年夏季前就能推出完全可运行的版本。
Given that he admits he has “no experience” in robotics, I question why he would want to invest in such a dicey business. Kindell says that failed pizza robot companies have nonetheless generated useful data and made strides in developing their technology. It’s just a matter of time before someone gets these things to work, he insists. 鉴于他承认自己”毫无机器人技术经验”，我质疑为何要涉足如此冒险的领域。金戴尔表示，失败的披萨机器人公司仍积累了宝贵数据，推动了技术进步。他坚信这些设备终将成功运作，只是时间问题。
On jobs, he claims that even “fully autonomous” pizza robots won’t threaten workers. Kindell previously used Picnic’s robots at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners, a baseball team. 关于就业问题，他声称即便”全自动”披萨机器人也不会威胁员工岗位。金戴尔曾在西雅图水手棒球队主场T-Mobile公园使用Picnic的机器人。
Usually, he’d need about 10 people to make pizza in such a setup. With the robots that number fell to just two. But the other eight people were still employed, he says, in roles where they interacted with customers, and advertised the pizza around the stadium. 通常在此类场景需要10人制作披萨。使用机器人后降至2人。但他表示其余8人仍受雇于客户互动、球场内披萨推广等岗位。
“We had so many more people able to hand out the pizza,” says Kindell. “It was so much faster.” “我们因此能调配更多人分发披萨，“金戴尔说，“效率大幅提升。”
For some pizza robotics engineers, speed is certainly a motivator. Last year at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio, Canadian firm Appetronix installed a 24/7 robotic pizza unit for the Donatos pizza chain. 对某些披萨机器人工程师而言，速度确实是驱动力。去年加拿大公司Appetronix在俄亥俄州约翰·格伦哥伦布国际机场为Donatos披萨连锁安装了全天候机器人披萨机。
Appetronix is working on newer versions of the technology that it claims will assemble pizzas at a furious pace. The goal is to eventually have a pizza sliding out of such machines “every minute”, says co-founder and chief executive Nipun Sharma. 该公司正在开发新技术版本，号称能以惊人速度组装披萨。联合创始人兼首席执行官尼彭·夏尔马表示，目标是最终实现机器”每分钟”产出一张披萨。
To that end, his team is investigating methods of depositing sauce onto a pizza base far faster than the 9.5 seconds currently required. “Think of it as a shower head that blasts the sauce in 1.5 seconds,” says Sharma. 为此团队正在研发能在1.5秒内完成酱料涂抹的技术，远超当前所需的9.5秒。“想象成花洒在1.5秒内喷淋酱料。“夏尔马说。
The company is even investigating lasers and ultrasound as potentially speedier methods of slicing pizzas than a traditional knife blade. 该公司甚至研究用激光和超声波取代传统刀片，实现更快披萨分切。
Many people enjoy hand-crafted pizza, though, I suggest. Doesn’t a machine making your dinner take away the human connection we might otherwise feel with food? “What we’re going after is a chain market,” replies Sharma. “You want the pizza to taste the same every single time.” 我提出许多人钟爱手工披萨，机器制作是否会剥夺食物的人文温度？夏尔马回应：“我们瞄准的是连锁市场，消费者需要每次口味一致的披萨。”
This divide, between businesses focused on repeatability, and those who promise a more artisanal, human-fronted experience, predates robotics. But it will likely shape how and where technology arrives in the world of pizza. 标准化复刻与匠人体验之间的分野早在机器人时代前就已存在。但这很可能决定技术将以何种方式、在哪些场景进入披萨领域。
Five years ago, Paul Giannone – owner of Paulie Gee’s pizza restaurants – vowed to Mashable that he would “never” use a robot. “That is still the case,” he tells the BBC. “Our shops offer a dining experience with personal customer service a high priority.” 五年前，Paulie Gee’s披萨店老板保罗·詹农向Mashable发誓”绝不”使用机器人。“现在依然如此，“他告诉BBC，“我们店铺提供以个性化服务为核心的就餐体验。”
Senatore says that human interaction is potentially an even more i 塞纳托尔指出，人际互动可能比人们想象的更重要…（原文截断）