Robots are replacing human workers at an alarming rate and forcing down wages. We live in a time where technology is outpacing social change.

Flippy, the burger flipping robot, has begun work at a restaurant in Los Angeles following a year of testing its capabilities and performance. It started off as an idea last year, and has now become a reality after implementing it in Los Angeles’s Caliburger restaurant in Pasadena.

Looking like a large arm covered in a chef jacket and mounted on a cart, it accommodates a spatula at one end. It uses image-recognition and heat-sensing tech to know which burgers need flipping; up to 12 burgers can be cooked at once, and 150 per hour.

The robot costs $60,000 to purchase and operation cost stands at $12,000 annually. The robot also saves employers from paying benefits.

According to a BBC video, Chief Executive at Cali Group, John Miller said “The robotics systems make a perfectly consistent burger across all of our restaurants everywhere in the world”.

It is said that replacing a line cook’s job with a robot could eliminate problems such as work-related injuries, including burns or even violence related situations, but this also raises questions about job loss. This new technology is destined to replace human fast-food workers, and robot-makers predict that new jobs will now be easily replaced with trained robots.

Miller concludes, “A day will come where it will be odd to walk into a restaurant where you don’t have all the benefits of robotic systems”.