(FORTUNE Small Business) – Ten years ago Kieran Fitzpatrick was stuck at a fast-food drive-thru when inspiration struck. A robotics scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, Fitzpatrick got an idea for speeding up drive-thru service. In 2001 he and three partners formed HyperActive Technologies with a single product: HyperActive Bob.

Bob is a camera on the roof of fast-food restaurants that tracks cars in the drive-thru lane, along with software that analyzes the images. Based on the size and type of car, the software predicts how much food the people in it will order. (For example, a minivan will need more food than a sports car; more people order burgers than chicken.) Privacy advocates can rest easy: The camera looks only at the car's size, not its occupants, and no one sees the raw video. Fitzpatrick, 47, says the system cuts waiting time at the drive-thru by two-thirds. For fast-food chains, time equals money: McDonald's found that every six seconds saved at the drive-thru increases sales by 1%. The system is now used at a few restaurants in Pittsburgh, and locations in Tampa and Dallas are reportedly interested. —ANTOINE CRAIGWELL