When robots inevitably take over our planet, as the dystopian vision of science fiction writers foretells, we’ll lose our jobs, our freedom, our humanity. But take comfort in one thing the robots will provide for us lowly, carbon-based life-forms: artisanal pizza.

They’re already making it in a commercial kitchen in the heart of Silicon Valley: Two robots named Pepe and Giorgio squirt sauce on dough, and another robot, Marta, spreads it. A robotic arm named Bruno puts the pizza in the oven. They don’t operate independently from humans yet – two or three people still load the dough onto the conveyor and sprinkle cheese and toppings – but Zume Pizza in Mountain View expects to be fully automated by spring, delivering made-to-order, customizable pizzas in as little as seven minutes.

Say it with a straight face: artisanal robotic pizza. Like jumbo shrimp and boneless ribs, it seems like a culinary oxymoron. For many years, our culture has fostered a movement that rewards people who grow and prepare food with thoughtfulness, by hand. We’re all about knowing your farmer, shopping small and local, and caring about the human stories behind the food we eat.

In seemingly direct contrast to that stands technology. Some of the same purveyors who are part of that movement are looking for ways to maximize efficiency and cut costs as their businesses grow.

“There’s a connotation with ‘artisanal’ that speaks to an artist behind it,” said Sarah Weiner, director of the Good Food Foundation. “I am not sure that robots have evolved to the point where they can convey emotion and meaning.”

Maybe not, but there are now robots that can reflect and simulate emotions. And technology is moving quickly: Engineers are developing robots to automate single tasks, but experts predict that eventually, artificial intelligence could become as common a kitchen tool as a whisk.

“It’s easy to take two things that seem completely at odds with each other and assume that there’s a tension,” said Zume Pizza co-founder and co-Chief Executive Julia Collins. “That doesn’t exist in this case. Robots are enabling us to deliver artisanal food.”

‘Not too perfectly’

How can something made by the steely mechanical hand of a robot be considered artisanal? It further stretches the definition of a word that is already in danger of becoming little more than marketing-speak, for sure. But Collins and others in the field assert that if the base ingredients, processes and technique come from artisanal origins, the food itself can be considered artisanal.

“Food has to be made with love,” Collins said. “That’s why humans make the food, and when I say ‘make the food,’ humans do all of the scratch cooking” at Zume. That means making the dough, which is aged for up to 24 hours, and the sauce, which Collins said comes from “single-source organic, dry-farmed tomatoes” and is made using executive chef Aaron Butkus’ grandmother’s recipe. Humans also must chop and prep the toppings, which are all local and use seasonal produce. Robots assemble and cook the pies; at peak capacity, they can make 288 every hour.

Apparently, we don’t want our food to look like it’s made by robots. Zume has taken particular care to ensure that: The machine it is commissioning to press the dough will create three slightly different shapes. Because the tomatoes are hand-crushed, the consistency of the sauce changes, so Marta the robot spreads it differently with every pie – “perfectly but not too perfectly,” Collins said. And the menu is constantly changing.

Zume doesn’t hide the fact that the pizzas are made by robots, but it doesn’t promote it on its website, either. Given the company’s location in a community full of programmers and engineers, it’s part of the appeal.

The automation doesn’t stop in the kitchen: The delivery-only pizza joint has patented food trucks that bake your pizza en route, in an oven that turns on automatically 31/2 minutes before the truck delivers it to your house after following an algorithmically optimized route.

Pizza isn’t the only food that’s getting a robotic boost. Momentum Machines announced plans to open a robot-operated burger joint in San Francisco, with systems that will allow diners to customize their blend of ground meat. There are robot noodle makers in Japan and robot cocktail makers in Italy. Casabots in San Jose has invented Sally, the salad robot – she’s essentially a fully contained, mechanized Sweetgreen – and they’re setting their sights next on burritos.

Robot labor could eliminate low-skilled jobs and lead to the creation of more technical jobs, such as robot maintenance. Zume, for example, gives all of its employees a stake in the company and technical training. Collins said workers whose jobs become automated will be reassigned, not eliminated.

And Zume’s kitchen always will require someone to prep and load food into the robots.