NEW YORK -- The poster boy for the movement that opposes a major increase in the minimum wage is a burger-flipping fraud.
A Japanese "robotic chef" that was held up Thursday as a hassle-free alternative for restaurant owners sick of dealing with human line cooks would simply not be able to do the job, the machine's manufacturer told The Huffington Post.
The Motoman SDA10 robot gained brief notoriety Thursday when it appeared on a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal that stated "robots could soon replace fast food workers demanding a minimum higher wage." (The ad is reproduced below.)
Friday, the Japanese electronics giant that manufactures the robot told HuffPost that the machine was designed for industrial applications and would not be able to replace a cook in a restaurant.
"The robot does not have a real capability for that," Sam Komiyaji, a marketing manager at Yaskawa Motoman, said in a phone interview from Tokyo.
Komiyaji explained the picture was taken at a 2009 exhibit that was a marketing stunt intended to show the industrial robot has a greater degree of flexibility and dexterity than competitor's offerings. Similar stunts have seen the same robot deal cards and serve ice cream. During the exhibit, the robot was placed in a carefully constructed kitchen and was able to dump a bowl of pre-mixed batter on a hot griddle, flip a savory okonomiya pancake with a spatula, and serve the meal.
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