SEATTLE — Lee Kindell promises he's a purist when it comes to pizza.
He uses a 120-year-old sourdough starter for his crusts and owns an 18th-century dough trough.
"I hold onto a lot of traditional things with our pizzas," Kindell said.
When it comes to the actual cooking, however, he is hands-off.
He lets Otis, a pizza-making robot, do the rest. Otis spreads cheese, slices pepperoni and drops toppings as a conveyor belt bakes the dough.
It all takes about six minutes.
"Some people might argue against me, but I believe this is the future," Kindell said.
Kindell used to make his pizzas by hand in a small West Seattle house, but an arm injury inspired him to automate.
That turned into MOTO Pizza, now with four locations, including one at T-Mobile Park. All have opened over the last two years.
Kindell said robotics have allowed him to ramp up production exponentially. Otis can make 180 pizzas in an hour.
"I want to change the game by telling people you can get this really good quality product from a robot," Kindell said.
Robots are spreading in restaurants across the country.
The pizza maker Kindell uses was featured at the Consumer Electronics Show two years ago.
UW Marketing Professor Jeff Shulman said the unsavory side of automation is that it eliminates jobs and increases income inequality.
"This means jobs lost in the area and jobs lost by people who are already struggling to make ends meet as prices rise and the cost of living goes up," Shulman said. "The person who is creating the robots is getting money when they sell them, so we're seeing the exacerbation of the income inequality that has been happening here in Seattle for quite some time."
But Kindell believes robotics help him maintain a consistent product while not having to worry about worker shortages.
Kindell claims robots are not taking jobs, but creating them as he's able to serve more customers with plans to open even more restaurants.
"It's creating more business for us," Kindell said. "So, we actually have to bring more people on. We're hiring."
Ultimately MOTO Pizza's success will hinge on the quality of the product and the proof is apparently in the pie. Demand is so high you have to pre-order MOTO Pizza.
Currently, there is a two-month wait.
Now the company is pondering a fifth location for the east side.
"I think we can create artisan pizza utilizing technology in many ways," Kindell said.
And the folks at MOTO Pizza are not stopping in the kitchen.
They're planning drone deliveries, robotic street deliveries and even robotic bartenders. This pizza maker is thinking "outside the box."