Robo-chef: you have 20 seconds to pan-fry
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Version 0 of 1. You would think that cooking a good meal would involve having a sense of taste, wouldn’t you? Apparently not, according to the Short Circuit-esque scenes at a technology trade fair in Hannover, Germany, last week, where the curious pairing of London robotics company Moley Robotics and 2011 MasterChef winner Tim Anderson announced the existence of the world’s first robo-chef. Or, more accurately, the world’s first robo-arms. The digi-gourmand is no more than a pair of gleaming, LED-pocked appendages dangling over a cooker, designed for use in the home kitchen. A mechanical home help? It’s like The Jetsons come to life. Finally, our most hyper-advanced futuro-science has mastered the technology of a five-decades-old cartoon. How did the robot learn its skills? Programmers studied motion-capture videos of Anderson repeatedly cooking a dish, then used a compilation of the “cleanest, smoothest movements” to accurately operate the 24 joints and 20 motors. Essentially, it is a very talented, kitchen-based mimic; the cyborg equivalent of a hungry Andy Serkis. Related: The robot cookbook: can a supercomputer write recipes? But does it make any sense? We’ve all tried following recipes to the letter, only to find the resulting meal has all the flavour of packet soup until you double the amount of herbs or frantically reach for the Knorr Stock Pot. This robot, however, literally has no ability to taste; no way to tell if it is making something delicious or something that should be served in KFC. How can we trust it? “Actually, when you see it in action, you realise how much of cooking is about being precise with movements and amounts,” says Anderson. “When I cook, I very often add things such as lemon juice and salt to taste – adding bits here and there – but I’m starting to realise that actually, that can lower the quality. Not relying on taste means it sometimes cooks better than humans do.” It doesn’t pick things up better than humans, though. Because it can’t see, it can only recognise an ingredient if it has been placed in a pre-determined position. Otherwise, its attempt to reach for an item will find it doing robotic jazz hands into empty air or sending mixing bowls spinning. In order for the robo-chef to cook a meal, it will need to be operated via an app, which, by the time of launch in 2017, the makers hope to have loaded with 2,000 recipes. But what happens if it breaks down? Anyone who has tried something as seemingly simple as using the Outlook app on an iPhone or performing a search in email will be familiar with computing’s sporadic penchant for malevolent technological insurgency. Is it really such a good idea to arm a robo-chef with a pair of gigantic steel fists? At least they didn’t get tempestuous, alleged hot-knife wielding chef Tom Aikens to train it. “Maybe we’ll need robot repairmen in the same way that people have contracts with British Gas repairmen,” offers Anderson. “There are all sorts of jobs it could create. We’ll need a new ingredients distribution system to deliver the components for your specific recipe and loads more programmers, too.” You’ll also need £10,000: the proposed price tag at launch. That’s 1,000 M&S “dine-in for two” meals. Forty-five mind-blowing gastronomic experiences at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant. Enough money to fly from Heathrow to Copenhagen 25 times over, dining at Noma every single time. For a hard drive with arms, that’s one hell of a hard sell. |