RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And this just in, Flippy is on hiatus. Last week in Pasadena, the local CaliBurger outlet gave the burger-flipping robot an opportunity to make history and to replace a human cook, turning burgers on the grill. The $60,000 robot was hired with great fanfare. CaliBurger boasted Flippy could flip 2,000 patties a day. The robot even has image recognition and heat-sensing technology to allow it to know when the burgers need flipping. Though, just after one day on the job, Flippy got a pink slip. Turned out its human helpers couldn't keep up preparing the patties for Flippy. The company says not to despair for the robot. There is still hope for a callback for this automated hamburger helper.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BURGERS AND FRIES")
CHARLEY PRIDE: (Singing) Burgers and fries and cherry pies. It was simple and good back then. Walking in the sand, hand in hand, never thinking that it could end. Making our love with the moon above at the drive-in picture show. And it was burgers and fries and cherry pies in a world we used to know. Changes come and go. We've had our share, I know. But it seems we don't have time for love anymore. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.