| OSAKA, Mar. 7 – Zojirushi Corporation, which will have an onigiri rice ball shop at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, opening on April 13, unveiled its half-automated onigiri rice ball making system on March 6, The company automated most of onigiri making processes, excluding feeding cocked rice into the tank, putting ingredients, and wrapping. The system was created jointly with Suzumo Machinery Co., Ltd., a supplier of onigiri robots for convenience stores as the first system of this kind to fit in a small room of about 5 square meters.
Customers can order onigiri with their favorite ingredients using smartphones that can read a QR code in front of the store. As soon as the system receives the order, it will feed 90 grams of rice onto a tray, and a person will add the ingredients based on the order shown on the screen in front. Then, the machine shapes the rice into a triangle, lifts it gently not to break it, wraps it with nori dried seaweed, and places the finished onigiri on the conveyor. Customers will have freshly cocked onigiri in about one minutes after ordering, if the shop is not too crowded.  Zojirushi will run its onigiri store at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, using this half-automated onigiri making system. (In Osaka) |