Circus SE, a German robotics company specialising in AI-powered autonomous systems, has introduced its CA-1 food production robot in Abu Dhabi, marking the company’s first deployment outside Europe. The launch follows regulatory certification under the UAE’s Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme (ECAS), obtained in July 2026.
The company is bringing the system to the UAE in partnership with Royal Prestige Food Contracts, a contract catering provider that produces more than three million meals annually for organisations including the UAE Army, the UAE Royal Palace, government ministries, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the Red Crescent.
Designed to automate commercial meal preparation, the CA-1 integrates ingredient storage, cooking, robotic plating and cleaning into a single system. Circus says the robot can produce up to 120 hot meals per hour without human intervention, serving a range of dishes from curries and stews to pasta, salads and sautés.
An Integrated Approach to Automated Catering
The CA-1 manages up to 36 refrigerated ingredient silos and uses automated induction cooking to prepare as many as five meals simultaneously. The system can handle more than 200 meals per load and includes a self-cleaning dishwasher system, reducing the need for manual intervention across its production workflow.
At the software level, CircusOS, the company’s proprietary operating system, manages inventory, predictive diagnostics and real-time recipe adjustments. The combination of robotics and software is intended to coordinate food preparation as an integrated process rather than a collection of separate automated tasks.
The UAE deployment will also rely on locally sourced ingredients supplied through Royal Prestige’s domestic supply chains. This allows the system to operate within the country’s existing food sourcing and catering infrastructure.
Strategic Expansion into the Middle East
The launch represents a significant step in Circus’s international expansion. Certification under ECAS by the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology in July 2026 enabled the company to begin commercial deployment of its autonomous systems in the country.
Nikolas Bullwinkel, Founder and CEO of Circus SE, said the UAE’s ability to move quickly from pilot projects to larger-scale implementation influenced the decision to launch there first outside Europe. He described autonomous food production as part of the infrastructure needed to support the country’s expanding AI economy.
Bullwinkel added that the company expects the UAE to become one of its largest markets in the medium term. For Royal Prestige, the partnership provides an opportunity to introduce automated food production into large-scale catering operations. Chef Abdallah Youssef, CEO of Royal Prestige Food Contracts, said the company aims to lead the adoption of the technology while continuing to support local suppliers and use UAE-sourced ingredients.
The deployment brings autonomous cooking and meal production into a commercial catering environment where consistency, production capacity and operational efficiency are important considerations. Its implementation in the UAE will offer an early indication of how AI-powered food production systems can be integrated into established catering operations.
