THE ROBOTIC CHEF IN YOUR KITCHEN

 

 

Yes, I know I have your complete attention, and no I am not referring to your extremely efficient spouse. The Intelligent Personalized Robotic Chef is the most recent addition to your modular kitchen! This surely was your dream……..and this is coming true!

Wouldn’t it be amazing if someone could magically prepare our meals for us every day? No, we don’t mean a genie. Instead, an intelligent, personalized robotic chef might be the first step towards making that dream come true. A British firm named Moley Robotics has recently announced that they have produced the world’s first robotic kitchen featuring a "dexterous robot integrated into a luxury kitchen that prepares freshly-cooked meals at the touch of a button." The kitchen robot also has two arms that imitate the movements of human hands while preparing meals.

This robot chef can retrieve ingredients from the smart fridge, adjust hob temperature, use the sink to fill pans and pour, mix and plate up just as a human cook would. The robot even cleans up after itself — without complaint! This kitchen robot is the brainchild of Russian mathematician and computer scientist Mark Oleynik. Tim Anderson, a culinary pioneer, and winner of the 2011 series of BBC Master Chef, has helped develop the innovation. His cooking techniques were captured in 3D and “translated into elegant digital movement using bespoke algorithms”.

A robotic chef that can make sumptuous dishes may sound like something from a science-fiction movie but Moley Robotics has shown that this can indeed become a reality. Not only does the robot cook complete meals, but it also informs you when ingredients need to be replaced and suggests dishes based on the items you have in stock. That’s not all - it even cleans up the kitchen after cleaning itself.

The robot kitchen has come to life thanks to the sustained efforts of 100 engineers, product and luxury interior designers, and three award-winning chefs. To perform its tasks, the kitchen uses a combination of sensors and optical cameras. It even features an optical system that can spot dropped food and clean it up, ensuring that your kitchen always remains unsullied. As of now, the robot chef can whip up 30 dishes developed by world-leading chefs. Moley Robotics has also planned on adding a digital menu in the robot with over 5000 choices.

So, how much will it cost to have this futuristic robot kitchen in your home? As of now, the Moley Robot Kitchen has been priced at around $330,200. Now, that’s a pretty steep price and is almost the same as buying a yacht or a supercar. But the firm claims that there have already been over 1,000 “qualified sales inquiries” from people interested in buying one. Moreover, they also stress that they will be introducing lower-priced models in the future. Like all breakthrough technologies – cars, televisions, and computers – it will appeal to enthusiasts, professionals, and early adopters, and is priced accordingly.  Moley Robotics has promised that this robot chef will serve restaurant standard meals at the command of the owner.

 

Available in India: If it is software it must be having an Indian version. Surely it has and a Chennai firm is marketing the Indian version at a much economical price. The company has introduced ‘RoboChef’, the fully automated kitchen capable of cooking 60+ traditional dishes. With its modern, innovative features, and a user-friendly operating process, RoboChef is ready to break into the cooking market of India.  RoboChef’s state-of-the-art technology makes it more intelligent. Its sensor fusion metrics monitor the performance and condition of its parts, which enables its predictive maintenance and reduces the likelihood of failures. The firm claims that what makes their RoboChef different from anything already in the market is its versatility. People do not expect generic robotic kitchens to offer them customized meals. But RoboChef allows this! You can add, remove or replace any ingredient in a recipe to suit your taste and dietary restrictions and so vegetarians, vegans, diabetics or patients with dietary restrictions are all welcomed to use it. The RoboChef’s precise measuring cups and temperature sensors guarantee the same consistent mouth-watering taste every time.

 

Restaurant use: If there’s one thing that robots are good at, it’s reducing costs by performing tasks that would otherwise need to be done by human workers. This was part of the inspiration behind Spyce, a new budget-friendly fast food restaurant that uses robots in the kitchen. Spyce was founded by MIT engineering graduates Braden Knight, Michael Farid, Kale Rogers, and Luke Schlueter, who developed the necessary technology through MIT’s 2015 Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator program. Farid was the one who first came up with the idea when he was getting his masters in mechanical engineering and didn’t have the time to cook his own food, yet was dismayed at the prices of decent restaurant food. The resulting business opened up for the first time in Downtown Boston.

Once the order has been placed, the robotic kitchen sets about preparing it. It does this by dumping raw ingredients into one of seven rotating induction-heated woks that are tilted forward, so the customers can see the process from the other side of the counter. Once the food has been cooked, which only takes about 3 minutes, a human grade manager adds cold garnishes to it, before bringing it out to the customer.

Food industry is witnessing a strong digital revolution as it progresses gradually towards the cloud kitchen model. The Indian RoboChef too focuses on addressing these rapidly growing demands. In days to come it hopes to replace the need for super-specialty chefs while delivering tasty and healthy food anytime, anywhere at the lowest cost. The company claims that the  RoboChef can cook a wide range of recipes on-demand, specific for each person and with its speed, it can serve a large number of people in a short time, and that too at low cost.

Will kitchen robots be the nucleus of the kitchen of the future? This is certainly an exciting development. A robot chef that can prepare our favorite meals will undoubtedly make life so much easier. But when it comes to cooking food this is less of an effort and more of a passion, an exercise drenched in love and seasoned with feelings. Otherwise why do we yearn to go back to our mother’s kitchen? Robots can cook all right and the food may taste great too but can you ever fall in love with it?