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"  Why hire a sushi chef when you can buy a sushi robot that cranks out 3,600 pieces of sushi per hour? This week, Suzumo debuted its newest sushibot \u2014 the fastest in the world \u2014 at the World Food and Beverage Great Expo 2012 in Japan. According to Wired, Suzumo claims it built the first sushibot in 1981. The machines have improved quite a bit since then. The newest sushi robot is a countertop machine that shapes oblong rice mounds at 3,600 mounds per hour. There is a bucket mounted on top of the machine where the Sushibot can grab the chunks of rice. The perfectly shaped sushi rice then sits on top of a revolving platform, where a piece of fish will eventually be placed on top of each individual mound of rice. More From Delish: A Survey of 12 Asian Cuisines In addition to the nigri sushi robot, Suzumo also has a sushibot that can make 300 medium-sized rolls in one hour. That bot takes rice from a similar rice bucket contraption and presses the rice down into a flat sheet. Seaweed, fish, and veggies can then be placed on top of the rice sheet. Then a human (Suzumo hasn&amp;#039;t invented a completely human-free operation yet) presses a button and, voil\u00E0, a roll of sushi is made. The Sushibot uses a mechanism similar to a conveyer belt to roll the sushi, and afterwards slices the large rolls into individual pieces. The sushibots can also be customized, changing a roll&amp;#039;s thickness and length to meet the sushibot owner&amp;#039;s preferences.  Suzumo hopes to use its sushibots to, &amp;quot;precisely recreate the handmade taste and technique used by an experienced sushi chef.&amp;quot; While the owner of a sushibot would still need to hire employees to place ingredients atop the rice and operate the machines, a seasoned sushi chef wouldn&amp;#039;t be necessary. The sushibot machines cost at least a few thousand dollars. But in the long run, it might be cheaper to have a sushibot and lower-wage employees instead of a staff of sushi chefs.  More From Delish: Asian Recipes Although Suzumo may claim to be the creator of the sushibot, it is certainly no longer the only company building sushi robots. In fact, the demand for automated sushi-making machines seems to be growing as other companies such as Robotic Sushi and Rolling Mate also have several models meant to replace a sushi chef. The popularity of the sushibot could mean the beginning of worldwide fast-food sushi. Without a need for a sushi chef, high-efficiency sushi machines and unskilled workers could run sushi joints, much like today&amp;#039;s burger-centric fast-food chains. All that&amp;#039;s left is for Suzumo to come up with a sushibot that completely eliminates the need for human involvement.  What do you think: Will sushibots be the start of a new fast-food phenomenon? Would you prefer to order your rolls from a trained sushi chef? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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