These Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s Tenderloin | WIREDSkip to main contentMenuSECURITYPOLITICSTHE BIG STORYBUSINESSSCIENCECULTUREREVIEWSMenuAccountAccountNewslettersBest Android TabletsBest Smart RingsDyson VacuumsSmart Home SecurityChoose the Right LaptopDeals DeliveredSecurityPoliticsThe Big StoryBusinessScienceCultureReviewsChevronMoreExpandThe Big InterviewMagazineEventsWIRED InsiderWIRED ConsultingNewslettersPodcastsVideoLivestreamsMerchSearchSearchBoone AshworthGearMay 24, 2026 6:30 AMThese Robots Are Making Meals for a Nonprofit in San Francisco’s TenderloinA nonprofit in the city’s most troubled district has turned to robotic meal prep tech to make up for a dearth of human volunteers.Courtesy of Chef RoboticsCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyThese potato-salad-slinging AI chefs aren't taking anyone's jobs. Not yet, anyway. They’re just here as volunteers.Project Open Hand, a nonprofit founded in 1985 by local grandmother and HIV-awareness advocate Ruth Brinker, prepares and packages meals to meet the diverse nutritional requirements of people who need them. The effort began in response to the AIDS crisis, but the nonprofit has since expanded the meals it makes for people with conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease.But it takes many people to make these meals, and Project Open Hand has struggled to entice volunteers to help fill the meal kits. The organization is housed in a four-story building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. During peak hours, the place feels like a big operation, usually bustling with people. Some of them are there in need of the free meals, some are staff and volunteers there to make the food and keep the place running.The process of putting together medically tailored meal boxes can get complicated. Different patients have different needs, so the meals that go out for donation cannot be one-size-fits-all and have to account for allergies and nutrient requirements based on people’s needs and medical conditions. That’s where the robots come in.“It's not even that they’re faster,” says Alma Caceres, a sous chef who works on the meal prep process at Project Open Hand. “It’s that we don't have the volunteers.”Chef Robotics is a San Francisco company that makes "physical AI for the food industry.” It’s one of the many companies focused on building robots that can better handle physical objects. Chef’s automated robots focus specifically on plating—no cooking or chopping—just the act of getting the food on a plate at scale. It has clients for its robo-made meals, such as Amy’s Kitchen and Factor, the frozen-meal company. Chef Robotics is also training its robots to eventually handle more complex tasks, like assembling a hamburger piece by piece.The partnership with Open Hand came from a chance conversation between employees from the two organizations on the Bay Area Rapid Transit. When presented with the idea, Project Open Hand’s CEO, Paul Hepfer, said the cost of renting the robots felt worth it. (Yes, they pay a subscription fee.)“Nonprofits often operate under a scarcity mindset, and I think that's a disservice to the people we serve, because then you're not looking for innovations or quality improvements,” Hepfer tells WIRED. “There's not a whole lot of robots, AI, and innovation in the Tenderloin, I would bet.”San Francisco’s Tenderloin district has long been its most fraught, due to higher levels of crime, people experiencing homelessness, and drug use. If you’ve ever seen stories pushing the narrative that San Francisco is a dirty, unsafe city caught in a “doom loop,” they were probably talking about the Tenderloin.The Covid-19 pandemic didn’t help either, as people fled the city in droves. Open Hand, which had become particularly dependent on corporate volunteers who came to help assemble meals as part of company-sanctioned charity efforts, found its source of labor had vanished.San Francisco has made a sort of comeback in the past couple of years, buoyed by the AI boom. But that influx of money and workers has not exactly translated to the kind of corporate chivalry Open Hand had long relied on.Photograph: Boone AshworthPhotograph: Boone Ashworth“We used to have so many corporate groups come in here,” Hepfer says. “There are so many new businesses—AI businesses, biopharma businesses—that aren't engaged the way they were pre-pandemic, which is really unfortunate. I think we need to kind of figure that out, collectively.”Hepfer says Open Hand’s volunteers had been able to fill around 500 meals every hour. The robots, when things go smoothly, can help put together another 200 on top of that. Human volunteers can then be deployed to other, less monotonous tasks like chopping vegetables or cooking batches of plant-based protein in the kitchen down the hall.If you went to Open Hand, you might not even notice the robots. There are two of them, and they’re only active a couple of hours per day as part of an assembly line along a conveyor belt with a handful of volunteers. Everyone else is in the kitchen, cooking and chopping vegetables, or out in shipping, putting meals in delivery vehicles.“Having an arm and a scooping motion turns a physics problem—like how cooked is your onion, to a software problem—like do you have the right motion path?” says Rajat Bhageria, CEO of Chef Robotics. “So it's a lot more scalable.”The robot arms can be swapped out with fittings to handle around 70 different ingredients. They can also be a little sloppy. The arms reach down like claw machines into trays of various scoopable foods, dropping big plops of potato salad into a specific section of each tray. They get their aim right most of the time, but still occasionally make a mess as they drop the food. One human volunteer has the job of wiping the bits of food off the trays before the meals are sealed and whisked away. On the ground is a scattering of frozen corn that will get swept up and discarded after the job is done.Maybe it’s not elegant, but as one of the volunteers points out, the robots aren’t any messier than the humans.“Food is weird,” Bhageria says. “It's sticky, it's malleable, it's wet. Even the best simulation doesn't completely get it.”Photograph: Boone AshworthHaving the robots doesn't offset the need for volunteers, Hepfer says. He’s hopeful that by investing in this tech-forward experiment, Open Hand can make the case that it’s worth attention from the city’s monied interests. Maybe it could even encourage more people to volunteer.“A lot of times people in the for-profit world think, ‘Oh, that's a cute little nonprofit,’” Hepfer says. “I'm hoping that maybe the gravy on top of all this—the low-salt gravy on top—might be that people from the tech world might see that we are open to innovating and using technology and AI to improve the product we're providing for people's health.”Joseph Sobiesiak, who now helps run the meal assembly line, had first come to Project Open Hand in need of its services in the early ’90s. “I didn’t die,” he says. “And so now I’m here as a way to give back.”I ask how he feels about the robots. He seems skeptical at first, then shrugs and says he has come around, more or less.“I'm old-school,” Sobiesiak says. “It's working better than it did at first. Things are definitely much faster than before.”CommentsBack to topTriangleYou Might Also LikeHow to find us: Add WIRED.com to your preferred sources in GoogleHow the Canvas hack threatened thousands of schoolsBig Story: I've covered robots for years—this one is eerily lifelikeOrbs, saucers, and flashes on the moon—here’s what’s in the UFO filesTake our survey: What does “home” mean to you?Boone Ashworth is a staff writer on the WIRED Gear desk, where he writes about connected hardware, sustainability, and the right to repair. He graduated from San Francisco State University and still lives in the city. He is currently training to be a virtual reality DJ. ... Read MoreStaff WriterXTopicscookingrobotsroboticsartificial intelligenceFood and Drinkmachine learningcharitySan FranciscoRead MoreI've Covered Robots for Years. This One Is DifferentFrom sorting chicken nuggets to screwing in lightbulbs, Eka’s robotic claw feels like we're approaching a ChatGPT moment for the physical world.Will KnightNick Bostrom Has a Plan for Humanity’s ‘Big Retirement’The philosopher thinks humans should pursue advanced AI and the promise of a “solved world.”Steven LevyMeet the Sad Wives of AIAre you married to a man who’s obsessed with AI? I’m so, so sorry.Alessandra RamWhat Microsoft Executives Really Thought About OpenAI in 2018Leaders at the tech giant were skeptical of OpenAI—but wary of pushing it into the arms of Amazon, according to evidence revealed during the Musk v. Altman trial.Maxwell ZeffI’m a Normie. Can Normies Really Vibe Code?Apparently anyone can vibe code anything these days. So Claude and I tried to make a database for tracking the petty grievances of the masses.Chris Colin14 New Tools for Taking on the Great Outdoors ProperlyIt’s time to prep your kit ahead of the summer season. These tools will do the job.Chris HaslamMeta’s New Reality: Record High Profits. Record Low MoraleNext week, Meta is cutting about 10 percent of its staff. WIRED spoke with more than a dozen current and former employees about what it's like inside a company where “everyone is unhappy.”Steven LevyHP Coupon Codes and Deals May 2026Save up to 60%, plus an extra 20% with HP promo codes for laptops, printers, PCs, and more tech.Luke LarsenI Work in Hollywood. Everyone Who Used to Make TV Is Now Secretly Training AIFor screenwriters like me—and job seekers all over—AI gig work is the new waiting tables. In eight months, I’ve done 20 of these soul-crushing contracts for five different platforms. It’s bad.Ruth FowlerTop Litter-Robot Promo Codes: $150 Off Bundles, $50 Off the Starter Bundle, and MoreGet the latest Litter-Robot Discounts on Litter-Robot self-cleaning litter boxes, accessories, and more.Molly HigginsGoogle Workspace Promo Codes for MayBoost your productivity and save with exclusive Google Workspace coupons from WIRED. Get up to 14% off plans for three months, including Starter, Standard, and Plus tiers.Jacob RoachGood Luck Getting a Mac Mini for the Next ‘Several Months’Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts that AI adoption has happened faster than expected.Lauren GoodeWired CouponsSquarespace Promo Code10% Off Exclusive Squarespace Promo Code 2026Home Depot Promo CodeMemorial Day Appliance Deals + Up to an Extra $1000 Off + Free Delivery on appliance purchases $998+LG Promo CodeLG Promo Code: 20% Off Your First OrderDell Coupon Code10% Off Dell Coupon Code for New CustomersSamsung Promo Code30% Samsung Coupon - Offer Program 2026Doordash Promo CodeDoordash Coupon $20 OffWIRED is obsessed with what comes next. Through rigorous investigations and game-changing reporting, we tell stories that don’t just reflect the moment—they help create it. When you look back in 10, 20, even 50 years, WIRED will be the publication that led the story of the present, mapped the people, products, and ideas defining it, and explained how those forces forged the future. WIRED: For Future Reference.More From WIREDSubscribeNewslettersLivestreamsTravelFAQWIRED StaffWIRED EducationEditorial StandardsArchiveRSSSite MapAccessibility HelpReviews and GuidesReviewsBuying GuidesStreaming GuidesWearablesCouponsGift GuidesAdvertiseContact UsManage AccountJobsPress CenterCondé Nast StoreUser AgreementPrivacy PolicyYour California Privacy Rights© 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad ChoicesSelect international siteUnited StatesLargeChevronItaliaJapónCzech Republic & SlovakiaFacebookXPinterestYouTubeInstagramTiktok

A nonprofit organization named Project Open Hand, established in 1985 by Ruth Brinker, focuses on preparing and packaging medically tailored meals for individuals facing various health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. The organization operates in San Francisco's Tenderloin district and faces persistent challenges in securing sufficient human volunteers to handle the labor-intensive process of meal preparation and distribution. The complexity of creating these meals is further compounded by the necessity for each meal to account for diverse patient-specific nutritional requirements, allergies, and medical conditions, making a one-size-fits-all approach impossible.

To address the scarcity of human labor, Project Open Hand sought innovation, leading to a partnership with Chef Robotics, a company focused on developing physical artificial intelligence for the food industry. This collaboration centered on utilizing robotic technology to scale the plating process, rather than replacing cooking or chopping tasks. The core problem identified by staff, including sous chef Alma Caceres, was a lack of volunteers, which led to the conclusion that automation could fill a logistical gap that human volunteers could not. Chef Robotics’ robots are specialized in plating, focusing on the physical act of placing food onto plates at scale, which is a task that benefits from increased automation.

The decision to implement this technology was supported by Project Open Hand’s CEO, Paul Hepfer, who found the cost of renting the robots to be justified. Hepfer suggested that organizations often operate under a scarcity mindset that discourages the pursuit of innovation and quality improvements, and he hoped this technological experiment could attract attention from the city's financial interests. The robotic system functions as part of a larger assembly line where human volunteers are strategically deployed to less monotonous, more nuanced tasks, such as chopping vegetables or cooking protein batches. This division of labor allows the robots to manage the highly scalable aspect of plating, while humans handle the more tactile and variable elements of food preparation.

The robots operate by utilizing robotic arms that function as sorting and scooping mechanisms, designed to navigate trays of various ingredients and deposit food onto plates. While the robots handle the spatial task effectively, the process acknowledges the inherent challenge in managing the physical properties of food, which is described as "sticky, malleable, and wet," making the task inherently complex for even sophisticated simulations. Although the robotic plating is efficient, the process still requires human oversight, such as volunteers wiping excess food from the trays before sealing and shipping the meals. Rajat Bhageria, CEO of Chef Robotics, noted that the robotic arm movement presents a physical problem that is translated into a software problem concerning motion paths, demonstrating a path toward greater scalability.

The context of this initiative is situated within the socioeconomic challenges of the Tenderloin district, an area historically marked by high crime and homelessness, compounded by the difficulties Project Open Hand faced after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant departure of corporate volunteers. Hepfer expressed a hope that showcasing the integration of technology and artificial intelligence in service delivery could provide a compelling case for attention from broader society, potentially encouraging more support and innovation. Furthermore, the involvement of individuals like Joseph Sobiesiak, who sought to contribute through service, highlights a willingness to embrace new tools to fulfill a sense of civic responsibility. Ultimately, the integration of physical AI in this setting suggests a pathway for nonprofits to leverage technology to enhance service quality and operational efficiency while navigating systemic resource constraints.