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German Cooking Robot Wins International Award and Puts Culinary Automation in the Spotlight. Solution Created in 2021 Prepares, Serves and Cleans Without Direct Human Intervention, Besides Supply of Ingredients.
A cooking robot developed by the German company GoodBytz, based in Hamburg, won the Robotics Award 2026 in Hannover, in northern Germany. The award ceremony took place at the end of February 2026 during a pre-event of the Hannover Messe, the world’s largest industrial technology fair.
According to the award organization, the project stood out for combining robotics and artificial intelligence to execute the entire meal preparation cycle. The machine separates ingredients, controls time and temperature, stirs the pots, serves the dish, and finishes with the dishwashing.
The automatic kitchen system was created in 2021 and requires only the supply of fresh and semi-prepared ingredients, along with the selection of a dish from an electronic menu.
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According to GoodBytz, the proposal is to scale quality and standardization with menu flexibility.
For Hendrik Susemihl, co-founder and CEO of GoodBytz, the solution goes beyond restaurants and reaches hospitals, universities, and military infrastructure. In his words, the food industry is still “extremely dependent on human labor,” and automation helps to tackle labor and quality bottlenecks.
Award in Hannover Recognizes Robot Kitchen and Anticipates Trends of Hannover Messe 2026
The recognition of the cooking robot was announced in Hannover, a city of about 550,000 inhabitants, during an event that previews news from the Hannover Messe 2026. According to the organization, the fair will take place from April 20 to 24, 2026 and will focus on digitalization, automation, decarbonization, and clean energy.
Brazil will be the honored country at this year’s edition. According to the organization, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have confirmed their presence.
How GoodBytz’s Autonomous Kitchen Works, from Preparation to Service and Cleaning
The GoodBytz cooking robot starts with the supply of fresh and semi-prepared ingredients. From there, the system identifies the ingredients, separates them into pots, and automatically defines the cooking time and temperature for each recipe available on the electronic menu.
During preparation, the robot stirs the food in different pots to optimize cooking and texture, synchronizing steps to finish at the right time.
Then, it serves the dishes and initiates the washing process for the utensils, closing the production cycle with controlled hygiene.
According to GoodBytz, the 2021 project was designed to combine industrial standardization and menu personalization, maintaining consistent quality at scale. The company claims that the modular architecture and algorithms allow for the expansion of the number of recipes without performance loss.
Plans and Target Markets by Hendrik Susemihl, from Restaurants to Hospitals and Military Bases
For Hendrik Susemihl, kitchen automation is not limited to the restaurant sector. In his statements, he cites hospitals, universities, and even military infrastructure as environments where the solution can address staffing shortages and raise standards of nutritional quality.
The executive, who is also co-founder of Neura Robotics, reports that the motivation for the project has personal origins, after his father suffered a severe heart attack. The quest for healthy and affordable food led him to question why the meal industry continued to operate as it did decades ago, without the scalability gains already seen in other manufacturing sectors.
Food Industry Between Dependence on Labor and the Need for Quality at Fair Prices
Susemihl argues that the food industry is “extremely dependent on human labor,” which leads to restaurant closures, labor shortages, and quality variation. According to him, automation can reduce these vulnerabilities with standardization and process safety.
The CEO states that there is a divide between premium cuisine and basic consumption, often of low quality. The goal is to elevate the quality of basic consumption, offering very good meals at fair prices, with the help of robotics and AI to gain scale and predictability.
He projects that in the next five to ten years, it will be “quite normal” to coexist with automatic systems in professional kitchens and other services. He suggests there is room for niches where it is expensive or difficult to maintain kitchen brigades, such as companies far from urban centers or operations with fluctuating demand.
Who Already Uses the Technology, Corporate Clients and Global Partnerships
Today, GoodBytz lists among its clients the United States Army, the French multinational food services company Sodexo, the German supermarket chain Edeka, and the European group Transgourmet, which delivers food.
For the company, these partnerships demonstrate the capability of the system to serve large operations with distinct requirements.
According to the company, the modular design makes it easy to adapt to professional kitchens, production centers, and environments with strict sanitary regulations. The goal is to provide stable productivity, controlled hygiene, and reproducible quality, reducing losses and waste in the process.
Brazil in the Spotlight at Hannover Messe 2026, Presence of Lula and Friedrich Merz
In the 2026 edition of Hannover Messe, Brazil will have the role of honored country, reinforcing the showcase for automation, clean energy, and digitalization. According to the organization, the presence of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chancellor Friedrich Merz indicates an expectation of economic and technological agendas between the two countries.
In the context of the award won by GoodBytz, the fair aims to show how the production chains are incorporating robotics and AI in critical applications, such as food, logistics, energy, and manufacturing. The case of the cooking robot illustrates a trend of taking automation beyond the factory floor, reaching daily essential services.
On one hand, automation promises scale, quality, and predictability; on the other, chefs and teams may fear changes in the profession. What do you think about robots cooking for humans and the impact on employment, price, and flavor? Authors and readers may differ, and this conversation helps to understand how to balance culinary tradition and technological innovation.
Leave your opinion in the comments and tell us in what situations you would accept a meal made by a robot kitchen.
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