Kyochon F&B, the firm behind South Korea’s biggest fried chicken franchise Kyochon Chicken, is deploying chicken-frying robots, the company said Tuesday.

According to Kyochon, the first such machine has started work at one of its franchise stores in Songdo, Incheon.

Kyochon double fries its chicken to create a unique crisp texture, and the robots will take charge of the second act, the firm said.

Developed jointly with Doosan Robotics, the machine is a cooperative robot that can work with people in the same space, allowing a human employee to perform tasks simultaneously during its automatic operations, the company explained.

“With the implementation of the cooperative robot, we will provide a better service with uniform quality products, and we expect it will create a safer and more efficient work environment for franchise owners and staff,” a Kyochon F&B official said in a press release.

Starting with the Songdo outlet, Kyochon will be introducing the robots to more stores.

The chicken franchise said it will also come up with different types of robots to automate other cooking processes, including pre-frying the chicken and coating it in sauce.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)