A robot is now making Jamba smoothies in a California Walmart in less than 3 minutes

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-in-tech&amp;hash=8122c716833601fc1471f79af063b104?nr_email_referer=1&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=10_things_tech&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20sai:%2010%20things%20in%20tech%20you%20need%20to%20know%20today&amp;utm_term=10%20THINGS%20IN%20TECH%20YOU%20NEED%20TO%20KNOW%20-%20ENGAGED%2C%20ACTIVE%2C%20PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED0PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED">Sign up here</a> to get this email in your inbox every morning.Have an Amazon Alexa device? Listen to this update by searching "Business Insider" in your flash briefing settings.And for the biggest stories in politics, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/10-things-in-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign up here for 10 Things in Politics You Need to Know Today</a> - launching soon!<ol><li>Google's AI chief faces backlash over a top researcher's exit. After the ousting of a prominent AI ethicist, Jeffrey Dean has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-timnit-gebru-jeff-dean-firing-controvery-2020-12?r=rr">come under fire</a> for how the company handled her termination. </li><li>Amazon is accused of firing a worker pushing for sick pay. Multiple legal challenges have been brought against the firm <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-nlrb-complaint-alleges-illegally-fired-worker-sick-pay-dispute-2020-12">over its firings of whistleblowers</a> who have spoken out about working conditions. </li><li>Apple CEO Tim Cook added pronouns to his Twitter bio. GLAAD says adding pronouns to social media profiles is a way to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-put-pronouns-in-his-twitter-bio-2020-12">support trans people</a>. </li><li>Elon Musk said why he wants to be buried on Mars. The Tesla founder also shared how he planned to be at the forefront of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-interview-axel-springer-tesla-accelerate-advent-of-sustainable-energy">the self-driving car revolution</a>. </li><li>Google rivals hit out at its 'profit-sapping' in Europe. German search rival Ecosia <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-rival-ecosia-blasts-profit-sapping-android-choice-screen-2020-12">called on officials</a> to ramp up antitrust investigations. </li><li>The White House said it won't extend TikTok's deadline to sell off US assets. Two sources told Reuters that talks between TikTok and the US government over the app's fate <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-us-not-extending-tiktok-divestiture-deadline-but-talks-expected-to-continue-sources-2020-12">are expected to continue</a>. </li><li>Jeff Bezos says Blue Origin will land the first woman on the moon. Artemis 3 would be the first crewed lunar landing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-be-7-rocket-engine-test-artemis-2020-12">since the last Apollo mission</a> in 1972. </li><li>Tesla competitor Lucid Motors built its first factory. Lucid will start producing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lucid-motors-completes-arizona-factory-2020-12">up to 30,000 vehicles</a> per year at the Arizona plant in 2021. </li><li>Jamba is using a robot to make smoothies in a Walmart. The Blendid kiosk <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamba-using-robot-arm-smoothies-blendid-walmart-2020-12">uses artificial intelligence</a>, a robotic arm, blenders, a refrigerator, and ingredient dispensers. </li><li>Inside the tragic last months of former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. In his final months, Hsieh relocated from Las Vegas to Park City Utah, where he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tony-hsieh-tragic-final-months-in-park-city-2020-12">isolated himself</a> from longtime friends.</li></ol>

10 things in tech you need to know today

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e18b561b2e66a7986349624-1244/eatsa-robot-restaurant-san-francisco-2956.jpg" alt="eatsa robot restaurant san francisco 2956" />Melia Robinson/Tech InsiderCustomers wait to pick up their Eatsa orders from the automat's futuristic pickup windows in San Francisco in 2016.<ul class="summary-list"><li>A trend in food automation has swept the country in recent years.</li><li>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/san-francisco">San Francisco Bay Area</a> has seen a high concentration of robot-run restaurants, but some of them have failed.</li><li>It may simply be that <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/10/humans-werent-ready-for-eatsas-fully-automated-restaurants.html">people still value some sort of human interaction</a> in a dining experience.</li><li>Here's what it was like visiting some of San Francisco's automated eateries.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>The robot revolution in San Francisco has begun. Or has it?The tech-centric city has seen an automized restaurant scene in recent years. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/25/robot-chefs-cooking-san-francisco-food">The idea is that robots</a> could be used to fill repetition-heavy positions that require hours of nonstop work - like line cooking - that could then free up human employees to provide higher quality customer service. Labor costs and, subsequently, menu prices would be lowered, tipping would become obsolete, restaurants could more heavily invest in higher quality ingredients, and profits would increase for business owners in the process - or at least that's the theory.It's a trend seen across the country and the world, but San Francisco specifically has been the ideal market for robot and semi-robot restaurant testing <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/04/06/robots-invade-foodie-san-francisco-promising-low-prices-cheap-labor/3334069002/">for a number of reasons.</a>The city's millennial workforce is busy, which makes a quick automated culinary experience appealing. A harshly visible wealth divide, low wages, and a housing crunch also spell a labor shortage in the 7x7 city, a shortage that could be addressed by placing robots into these roles. And on top of that, venture funding-seeking startups here have long used the streets of San Francisco as an experimental playground, with the city's occupants as their guinea pigs for testing out what could be promising technology - so much so that it's grown into a bit of an issue, with the city considering launching an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-office-emerging-technology-robots-scooters-2019-11">office specifically designed to regulate emerging tech </a>before companies can throw it into public spaces.<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b1ea1f11ae6623c008b4d0b-2000/cafex-san-francisco-robot-cafe-coffee-bar-robotic-4.jpg" alt="cafex san francisco robot cafe coffee bar robotic 4" style="float: right;" />Katie Canales/Business InsiderThe robotic barista at CafeX prepares a coffee order for a customer.At San Francisco's Eatsa automat, you could quickly order and then pick up your $7 quinoa bowls - prepared behind the scenes by unseen employees - through futuristic pickup windows lined against the wall of the restaurant, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eatsa-review-2016-6">as Business Insider's Melia Russell reported.</a> At a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cafe-x-robotic-coffee-bar-automation-2018-6">Peter Thiel-backed CafeX coffee bar</a>, a jolly-looking robotic arm is the barista building and serving you your coffee order. And at Creator, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robot-made-burger-restaurant-creator-review-2018-7#around-the-corner-from-the-dining-area-is-the-inhuman-star-chef-3">the Google parent company-backed burger joint of the future</a>, a robot builds your $6 burger from start to finish in five minutes.Other Bay Area-based automated restaurants like pizza-making and delivery startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-pizza-robot-expansion-2017-6">Zume</a>, TeaBOT, the ramen vending machine <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/ramen-vending-machine-san-francisco-metreon-sf-12717428.php">Yo-Kai Express</a>, the Blendid company <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/article/Meet-San-Francisco-s-new-giant-13710040.php#photo-17111080">whose robot will fix you a $6 smoothie</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sally-the-salad-robot-chowbotics-2017-4">Chowbotics' salad-prepping Sally robot</a> round out the region's autonomous eatery arena.Visiting one can feel like stepping into a sci-fi flick - being handed a cup of coffee by a robot is a bit of a novelty.But innovation aside, there are concerns that automation <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-future-of-the-machine-worker-is-here-2016-3">may result in mass unemployment</a> as robots are deployed to fill jobs that humans could occupy. There's also the longstanding question of whether or not people actually desire human interaction when they're being served. And even with those questions aside, it turns out that some of these restaurants aren't surviving.In July 2019, Eatsa shuttered its San Francisco locations after the company was found to be thousands behind in unpaid rent. It's since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-announces-deal-tech-startup-brightloom-formerly-eatsa-2019-7">pivoted to restaurant tech and software</a> and rebranded itself as Brightloom, with a new deal with Starbucks announced in 2017. Just this week, <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/coffee-robot-baristas-3-locations-Cafe-X-close-14959241.php">CafeX closed its San Francisco locations</a>, though its stations at San Francisco International Airport and San Jose Airport are still open. And Zume, the Softbank-backed startup known for its pizza-making robots, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-cmo-mark-crumpacker-executive-departures-softbank-startup-2019-11">shuttered its pizza business and pivoted into food-truck tech and services in November 2019.</a> Then, in January 2020, the company laid off 400 employees to further cut costs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-pizza-robots-layoffs-leadership-turmoil-alex-garden-softbank-2020-1">as reported by Business Insider's Megan Hernbroth</a>. <img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e18caa7f44231097373d9ea-2400/creator-robot-burger-momentum-machines-1070574.jpg" alt="creator robot burger momentum machines 1070574" />Katie Canales/Business InsiderA human employee at Creator.One of the robot-run restaurants that seems to be doing alright is Creator, which is still humming along since opening in mid-2018. There are "robot attendants" and humans present in most of these restaurants, but there's more of a human presence in the burger-making robot joint, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/25/robot-chefs-cooking-san-francisco-food">The Guardian's Vivian Ho</a> pointed out. The robot prepares the Creator burger, but humans take your order and perform other tasks. And as <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/robot-restaurants-barista-pizza-san-francisco-14103302.php#">SF Gate's Alix Martichoux writes</a>, the robot restaurants the author visited and enjoyed the most were the ones that involved real-life people.So there could be multiple reasons why some of them have flopped, but perhaps <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40541212/this-restaurant-robot-is-designed-to-help-servers-not-replace-them">a straightforward explanation</a> is that <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/2017/10/humans-werent-ready-for-eatsas-fully-automated-restaurants.html">we're simply not ready</a> to be served by robots in lieu of humans.Here's what it's like eating at San Francisco's robot restaurants, some of which have since failed.

You Searched For "blendid" and got 3 results

A robot is now making Jamba smoothies in a California Walmart in less than 3 minutes

Brittany Chang

10 things in tech you need to know today

Martin Coulter

Some of San Francisco's robot-run restaurants are failing. It could simply be that we still want to be served by humans, not machines.

Katie Canales