Sponsored By

Here comes the Colonel Sanders robotHere comes the Colonel Sanders robot

KFC unleashes H.A.R.L.A.N.D. to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day

Jonathan Maze, Editor in Chief

July 6, 2017

1 Min Read
kfc
KFC

KFC is bringing Colonel Sanders to drive-thrus — in robot form. 

To celebrate National Fried Chicken Day on Thursday, KFC is unleashing a robotic Colonel Sanders at select drive-thrus. 

kfc-harland-robot-animation_0.gif 

The robot, H.A.R.L.A.N.D., or Human Assisted Robotic Linguistic Animatronic Networked Device, uses speech recognition, artificial intelligence and text-to-speech techniques to transform a KFC drive-thru operator’s voice into Sanders’ signature drawl.

The humor website Funny Or Die produced a video clip to demonstrate the robot’s potential.

 

The robot follows KFC’s other marketing efforts, such as when it recently put a Zinger chicken sandwich into space. The robot was created in partnership with the ad agency Wieden Kennedy’s design engineering group W K Lodge. 

Read more:

• The re-colonelization of KFC

• KFC launches brand overhaul

Contact Jonathan Maze at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter: @jonathanmaze

About the Author

Jonathan Maze

Editor in Chief, Restaurant Business

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.