The traditional hand-crafted pizza has a shiny new rival — pizza made by robot.

French startup Ekim wants to speed up the way pizza is made using a three-armed autonomous pizzaiolo robot.

Ekim hopes to install its cutting-edge pizza-maker, which is capable of churning out a freshly-made pizza every 30 seconds, in an autonomous 24/7 restaurant soon.

The robot's gestures have been programmed to match those of real-life pizzaiolos, or pizza-makers, and all three arms working independently to enable the robot to make several pizzas at the same time.

'We are not faster than a pizzaiolo as we make a pizza in four minutes and 30 seconds because the pizzas are made on demand in front of the customer, we take time to cook them well, to put the ingredients,' Ekim CEO Philippe Goldman said.

French start-up Ekim has built a robotic chef capable of churning out homemade pizzas at the rate of one pizza every 30 seconds

'But the robot has three arms, can co-ordinate tasks and make several pizzas at once.

'So yes, making a pizza takes four minutes 30 seconds but we deliver one pizza every 30 seconds, which allows us to deliver 120 pizzas an hour when a pizzaiolo can only make 40 pizzas an hour.'

The idea originated when two Ekim engineers from when they were students after they grew tired of eating low-quality fast food, the only meals they could afford at the time.

The robot is currently in a showroom outside Paris while Ekim searches for a location to start a pizza-making service, using produce from France and Italy.

Like with a vending machine, the concept would allow customers to order a freshly-made pizza at any time.

Using an automated screen, they can chose from an array of pizzas, including the traditional Margherita and richer four cheese.

Philippe Goldman, CEO of French food startup EKIM, poses beside the touchscreen display used to order pizza, while the pizzaiolo robot in the background prepares and cooks the item

The robot's movements have been programmed to resemble those of a real-life pizza chef. The startup behind the robot added three separate arms to speed-up pizza making

Ekim's autonomous chef currently resides in a showroom in Montevrain, near Paris, while the company searches for a location to start a permanent pizza-making service

The robot is able to make 15 pre-set recipes developed by three-time world pizza champion Thierry Grafagnino. Customers can also design their own pizza using the touchscreen

'People nowadays have less and less available time to eat, they hardly have 30 minutes to have lunch. Therefore, they have to chose between time and food quality. What we're doing is providing both,' Goldman said.

Other restaurants around the world have used food automation to serve up meals, and one in California sees humans and robots making pizzas together.

But for some, a pizza can only be made by human hands.

'A human being is faster, he can tell if the dough is good or not,' Naples-born pizzaiolo Vittorio Monti said as he served up pizzas in a Paris restaurant.

'If there are any problems, the robot can't tell, but the pizzaiolo yes.'