Chalk one up for the humans. A clever Kroger customer has her birthday cake decorated by a robot and asks that it write that a robot made it. While the news is full of stories that indicate we’re only a few years short of being taken over by robot overlords, cake decorator jobs are perhaps not in danger.
Kroger is currently trying out a new cake decorating kiosk service in its bakery department. TikTok user Jillian (jilliangfarris) found a humorous way to test out the kiosk’s abilities. “A robot decorated my birthday cake,” Jillian writes in the caption. “cake decorators have nothing to worry about but it’s a fun novelty lol.”
@jilliangfarris A robot decorated my birthday cake 🤖 cake decorators have nothing to worry about but it’s a fun novelty lol #fyp #cake #birthday #birthdaycake #robot #bot #3Dprinter #cakedecorating #virgo #cool ♬ Speed Drive (From Barbie The Album) – Charli XCX
Jillian’s video has amassed more than 701,000 views since its posting. The kiosk featured is called the Cake Writer, a robot cake-printing machine made by BeeHex that Kroger has been testing in select stores since July.
In the comments, one viewer agreed the technology has a ways to go: “Safe to say cake decorator won’t be going out of business to robots anytime soon.”
Others questioned the functionality of the device. “So what happens if it stop working or malfunctions and smashes the cake?” one user wrote.
According to a promotional video, the BeeHex is a NASA spin-off company that is currently based in Ohio. The founder worked on a project to develop a 3D food printer system for astronauts. In 2016, the company started to put that technology to work in the baking industry.
Jillian states in the comments, “There were about 7 designs to choose from and then you could add a message.”
Many of her viewers felt that the convenience would be a welcome addition to Kroger.
“Better than showing up to get the cake and the bakery saying they didn’t have anyone to decorate it and didn’t bother telling you,” wrote ohhthehorrors.
“I needed this for my husband’s cake publix had to get a random employee to do it and she wrote so bad on it,” another user added.
“Walmart bakers said they ‘didn’t have anyone’ to write on any of our family’s cakes this year. I’m happy to see this,” one viewer stated.
On the other hand, there’s plenty of evidence that robot ‘workers” often cause plenty of problems of their own. One viewer sums up the costs and benefits of robot “workers” fairly well: “I love technology! Sometimes.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Jillian via TikTok and to Kroger via email for comment.
