Robot Pizza Start-Up Shuts Down Because They Couldn't Keep Cheese From Sliding Off

In an age where we're inundated with how AI and robots will take everyone's jobs, it's nice to know that at least one thing is safe: the art of pizza making.

While we all know that robots cannot have human emotions, it seems they can't make a decent pizza either. So much so, that a start-up that bet the farm on robots possessing some degree of pizza-making ability has had to close up shop.

Zume was a pizza-making company based in Silicon Valley and at one point, it had raised half a billion dollars, according to the website Futurism.

However, the company hit a few technical snags. The biggest one, by far, was that the company couldn't figure out how to keep the cheese from sliding off the pizza while it ventured through the automated ovens.

This is one of those stories that reminds us that we're still several steps ahead of AI and robots. If they can't recognize that a pizza's cheese is sliding all over the place, then humanity is safe for a few decades at least.

I mean, 16-year-olds working their first jobs at the local Domino's have this figured out.

This is why by 2020, the company had shelved its idea for pizzas and turned toward sustainable packaging.

That didn't work out either. Earlier this month it was announced that the company had shut down.

And to think this all could have been avoided if they got the cheese situation under control.

Zume Pizza Co-Founder and CEO Julia Collins (middle) speaks during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

Zume's Pizza Robots Couldn't Get A Pizza Fundamental Worked Out

Ensuring the fortitude of pizza cheese is a big thing. So big that a failure to do so kickstarted the fall of a company with nearly a billion dollars in funding.

The little mom-and-pop joint around the corner from you doesn't have that kind of funding and they're in better shape than Zume. That's because they didn't waste their money on robots that can't understand one of the pillars of pizza making. Ones that will cook you a pie with the cheese all askew.

I think Zume was doomed the second they picked their name. It's too close to Zune, that Mp3 player Bill Gates made that no one wanted.

However, they're not the only company trying to figure out how to get robots to make pizzas. Sure, people are suffering from innumerable deadly diseases waiting for cures but, dammit, we need pizza robots!

Another company, Stellar Pizza, was started by SpaceX engineers. They're working on a robot that can roll out the dough and apply toppings.

Perhaps, in light of Zume's folly, they will continue to have humans operate their ovens.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle