20 November, 2009
Robot chefs serve Asia
Before they take over the world, robots apparently will feed it
Asia is often on the cutting edge of robotics technology, and the area of food prep it is no different. These five Asian Iron Chefs of the metalic and fully automated variety are more than 'happy' to prove the point.
Robots descend on Tokyo
Tokyo’s 2009 Food Machinery and Technology Expo. The Motoman computes spoken orders and then mixes, pours, shapes, flips and seasons okonomiyaki (Japanese savory pancake). Sushi chefs may soon be usurped by a creepy silicon hand that can make 2,000 pieces of nigiri per hour.
The Squse
Squse. Air pressure controls the artificial muscles so that the strawberries aren’t squeezed into jam.
The Chief Cook robot
When the poor robot knocks over a bowl, he’s scolded as “stupid” by the Swiss researcher he calls Master. But he corrects his error and raises his arms in victory: “Yes!” The bot learns to grate and mix by tracking movements with his flickering eyes. Pray that he doesn’t snap and use the knife for something other than slicing ham.
Robot Kitchen in Hong Kong
If you fall for cute servers with anime eyes and glowing smiles, look no further than Robot Kitchen in Hong Kong. A happy humanoid slides over and take your order via recognized voice patterns. He confirms the number -- in a Cantonese accent -- and zaps it to the cooks by infrared.
Shop G27, Park Central, 9 Tong Tak Street, Tseung Kwan O, Kowloon, Hong Kong, tel: +2623 2238
FuA-Men -- "Fully Automated Ramen"
Nagoya’s FuA-Men (Fully Automated Ramen) restaurant puts them together. A yellow mechanical chef and his assistant cook more than 40 million possible ramen permutations with perfect consistency and timing. Make sure you catch the robot knife fight at the end of the video.
FuA-Men, Dai 2 Ameyoko Building 2F, Oosu, Nakaku, Nagoya, Japan, tel: +0562 74 0777
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