Domino’s Pizza has introduced a pizza checker enabled by artificial intelligence in a move designed to tackle a frequent complaint from customers: that the pizza they receive does not closely resemble the image of the pizza they ordered.
The DOM Pizza Checker uses a smart scanner that sits above the pizza cutting bench and checks the quality of every pizza. I It is now operating in all Domino’s stores across Australia and New Zealand.
The system has been developed by Domino’s and Perth based Dragontail Systems. At its core is Dragontail’s QT Quality Control Camera that “relies on a unique work method that uses artificial intelligence and channels the information collected by it to monitor the food items its scans.”
It “provides an indication of the food quality and its suitability to the standards set by the store and the end-customers’ requirements, in real time and acts as an efficient management tool.”
Domino’s Australia CEO Nick Knight said the technology could recognise, analyse and grade pizzas based on pizza type, correct toppings and even distribution of ingredients.
“It does this by capturing an image of the pizza and using artificial intelligence to compare this data with a large dataset of correct pizzas, making a quick assessment,” he said.
He added that it would continue to learn, improve and develop over time. “Later this year we will be releasing even more features, including the ability to provide customers with a real-time image of their pizza on the cut bench. As part of this process, they will also be notified if their pizza has failed our strong quality testing, resulting in a remake.”
Dragontail ASX listed Dragontail (ASX: DTS) announced in November 2017 that it was working with Domino’s on the project.
Dragontail restaurant automation
The firm’s core product is the Algo restaurant management system, claimed to manage food preparation and delivery process from start to finish.
According to Dragontail it “uses a sophisticated patented algorithm to optimise and manage the entire food preparation process from order to delivery … [and] is the first system in the world to fully automate and streamline the kitchen flow to deliver an immediate and significant return on investment to fast food and quick service restaurants.”
The company has submitted 13 patents for its technology in eight countries including Australia.
Algo is also in use by another pizza chain, Pizza Hut, in Singapore and Australia.
Dragontail announced in July 2018 that Pizza Hut was using the Algo system with its Glite online platform to streamline food preparation and delivery. Dragontail says the integration also allows drivers to integrate with the system on their phones.
It told the ASX in April 2019 that rollout of the Algo platform across 280 Pizza Hut stores in Australia was expected to be completed by the end of the year.
