I tried a $7 burger made in minutes by a robotic vending machine. It tasted average, but I still think it could be the future of fast food.

Brittany Chang/Insider

• A New Jersey-based startup has created the "world's first burger robot in a box."
• The Roboburger vending machine can prepare fresh burgers in about six minutes for $7.

If you're an impatient burger connoisseur who hates small talk and people touching your food, I have the perfect concept for your specific needs.

Brittany Chang/Insider

There's a new burger startup in town, but it's not the classic brick and mortar restaurant with cashiers and cooks.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Instead, it's Roboburger, a robot burger maker inside box.

Brittany Chang/Insider

And unlike the typical mall vending machine that dispenses prepackaged snacks and drinks, the Roboburger promises fresh and simple $7 burgers made within minutes.

Brittany Chang/Insider

"We're not trying to do too much — just make a perfect, simple burger like what you get off your backyard barbecue," Andy Siegel, the CMO, told Insider.

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Roboburger started out as a concept inside the garage of Audley Wilson, the company's co-founder and CEO, 17 years ago.

Brittany Chang/Insider

And now, it's the "world's first robot burger chef" located inside the Newport Centre mall in Jersey City, New Jersey, about a 10 minute drive from New York City.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Source: Roboburger

I visited Roboburger one Wednesday afternoon in search of a filling and convenient lunch …

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… and while I was wowed by the novelty kitchen concept, I thought the burger was just okay.

Brittany Chang/Insider

The Roboburger isn't a giant robot arm that slings a spatula while it flips beef patties.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Instead, all of the burger-making magic happens inside the closed doors of the roughly seven-foot-tall vending machine.

Brittany Chang/Insider

As I stood by the plug-and-play Roboburger, I noticed that it consistently drew in onlookers with its bright red exterior, the smell of cooked meat, large touchscreen, and promise of a fresh burger made by a robot.

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Almost every other person walking by the Roboburger stared at the machine in passing or lingered around long enough to understand its purpose.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Think of the Roboburger as a functioning kitchen inside of a vending machine.

Brittany Chang/Insider

There's a freezer that stores 50 beef patties, a dishwasher, and all the automated cooking systems needed to make a perfectly charred and dressed burger.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Using the touch screen, hungry customers can order a standard Roboburger with all the accouterments …

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… or select their preferred condiments, which include mustard, ketchup, and melted cheese.

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No matter the condiments, the burger will come out to $7.55 after tax.

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Instead of a cash register, there's a digital pad that accepts card or contactless payments.

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The Roboburger then follows all the typical burger cooking steps.

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After I ordered my burger with all the fixings, all I had to do was stand back, entertain myself with the animations on the touchscreen, and wait a few minutes.

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And while I lingered around, the Roboburger was hard at work.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Its griddle system cooks both sides of the patty simultaneously, toasts the bun …

Roboburger

… dispenses the mustard, ketchup, and melted cheddar cheese …

Roboburger

… and assembles and boxes the burger, delivering a perfectly packaged burger to its hungry customer (me).

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The machine, certified by the National Sanitary Foundation, then cleans its own griddle with hot high pressured water to guarantee a clean and fresh burger for every order.

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It's a completely contactless experience. But a Roboburger employee still needs to interact with the machine about every other day to replace the used water and refill the inventory.

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The startup is also working on an app that will allow customers to pre-order Roboburgers and pick up their meals using a QR code.

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As for the actual taste, Siegel was pretty spot on when he described the Roboburger as the kind of burger you'd get at a backyard barbecue.

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It's simple, piping hot, covered in warm gooey cheese, and devoid of any fresh vegetables.

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"When you taste the burger, you'll find out that as exciting as the tech is and as amazing as the convenience is, it's a better burger," Siegel said. "And that's what people are gonna really know us for."

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The thin beef patty had a good char on it and the warm pool of melted cheese added some much-needed salt and moisture …

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… although most of the cheese ended up on the box instead of on the hamburger patty.

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The misplaced cheese, while delicious, made for a messy eating experience.

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I ended up dipping my burger into the cheese puddle.

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The pool of sweet Heinz ketchup and mustard added the necessary contrasting sweet and tangy notes, and the lightly toasted bun was soft but still a good vessel for a burger.

Brittany Chang/Insider

Overall, it was a perfectly average meal, maybe a bit underwhelming given its origin story.

Brittany Chang/Insider

While Roboburger's tech has the potential to revolutionize the foodservice industry, I didn't find the hamburger itself to be life-changing in any way.

Brittany Chang/Insider

But at the end of the day, it delivers exactly what it promises: a fresh burger made by a robot.

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And I still inhaled the whole burger in just a couple of minutes.

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In the future, the Roboburger could start cooking up breakfast sandwiches with fresh eggs, plant-based burgers, and a "full restaurant experience," Siegel said.

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But for now, it's focused on tackling the multibillion-dollar burger industry and bringing its robot burger maker to locations like employee break rooms, college dorms, and hospitals.

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In the coming weeks, the machine will begin operating around the clock, a move that'll service gig workers and people working late-night shifts.

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And within this year, Roboburger will begin rolling out in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago, and Miami, Siegel said.

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It's also planning a future "storefront takeover" to create a temporary robot-run restaurant.

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And in the future, you might be able to buy a smaller Roboburger for your home so you'll never have to flip your own burgers again.

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"Distributed robotic food tech is just in its infancy," Siegel said. "The application is just going to grow."

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