I'm thinking how could a restaurant be automated with arduino?

 

The title of your thread intriques me. I have not seen any pizza restaurants, even the small ones that only offer takeout, that could be an Arduino pizza shield.

There are many aspects of such a business that could be done by a small microcontroller, and already are. You have various appliances that need control of temperature and speed over time such as ovens, warmers, shredders, slicers, etc. There are devices that affect the customer experience that range from point of sale terminals and automated menu displays to table lighting. In short, most things that can benefit from microcontroller automation already have it.

Try to find some niche application that has been overlooked, not deemed economical or that is particular to your setting.

You're probably thinking "Thanks captain obvious. That's exactly why I asked here."

 

Not going to happen.

 

Not going to happen.

I agree. My local pizza place is a model of efficiency and blows away most competitors. They deliver a higher quality at a lower price than any shop I know. When you visit on a Friday evening or other popular time, there are maybe 10 people working the assembly line. At least half of them are sufficiently skilled that they're a marvel to watch. Like the guy that cuts the dough into perfect circles, or the guy that applies the toppings. And the guy that runs the oven is amazing - he must surely make mistakes and burn a few items or drop a few to the floor, but I've never seen it happen. All this while baking dozens of items in multiple ovens and not burning himself.

All these tasks could in theory be automated. A machine should be able to approach perfection even more closely than these pros, but the robotics involved would be quite sophisticated and probably not something an Arduino could handle. The savings on labor costs couldn't justify the expense for the capital investment required.

 

The Arduino was developed by Italian engineers, but that doesn't mean it's suitable to automate all the operations in a pizza joint. You need a LOT more computing power to do that.

 

 

I'm not hungry anymore.

 

I'm not hungry anymore.

/me dusts off his hands
My work is done here.

 

What a kludge. Advice to "makers": when your "creation" operates that poorly, don't make the shame worse by acting like you're proud of it.