LOUISVILLE, Ky. – To celebrate National Fried Chicken Day on July 6, Kentucky Fried Chicken brought its founder, Colonel Harland Sanders, to the drive-thru experience as “robot chicken expert” H.A.R.L.A.N.D. (Human Assisted Robotic Linguistic Animatronic Networked Device). H.A.R.L.A.N.D. is a voice modulator system that gives drive-thru customers the experience of ordering from an animatronic Colonel Sanders head that speaks in the voice of Colonel Sanders.

H.A.R.L.A.N.D. uses speech recognition, artificial intelligence technology and text-to-speech techniques to transform a KFC drive-thru operator's voice into the unmistakable drawl of Colonel Sanders. Because H.A.R.L.A.N.D. repeats whatever the drive-thru operator speaks, customers can have unique and interactive conversations just as they would with the real Colonel Sanders.

"What better way to celebrate National Fried Chicken Day than by ordering KFC from the Colonel himself?" said George Felix, KFC U.S. director of advertising. While the convenience of drive-thru service has been around for decades, not much has changed about the service, until now.

"Not only do we have a real person as our historic brand icon, but now we have the ability to bring that real person back as a real robot. The future is now," continued Felix.

The team at Funny Or Die recently demonstrated H.A.R.L.A.N.D.'s technological potential in a video clip.