Engineering news
UK-based Moley Robotics has unveiled its fully-automated cooking robot at a demonstration in London, which will be released as a product in the domestic market in 2018, followed by subsequent expansion into the hospitality sector.
The robotic kitchen unit, in development since January 2014, operates as a personal chef, programmed to mimic the exact actions of BBC’s Masterchef 2011 winner Tim Anderson, who developed recipes for the unit’s system. The robot is expected to come fully equipped with a built-in library of recipes that can also run personal recipes recorded and stored by the user. The unit has a touchscreen and an app for smartphones to navigate and command the system.
The Moley robot uses lightweight industrial robotic arms from Universal Robot technologies, as well as humanoid hands to provide people with an “emotional connection” to the robot.
David Walsh, head of engineering at Moley Robotics, said: “There’s a concern that robots are unpredictable, but having something people can relate to provides them with comfort. Its movements are fluid and lifelike.”
Walsh stated that Moley is aiming for a completely autonomous and reliable system, as human monitoring would not add much value to the unit. Although the positioning of the appliances and ingredients have to comply with the specific programming of the robotic arms, the company will eventually extend the functionality to flexible positioning in real-time.
Walsh added: “We do have finite control of the utilisation of the appliances. We can minimise the time the appliances are operating because the robot knows exactly how long everything takes, it reduces food wastage as each recipe is designed for a specific number of people.
“As time progresses we can extend the automation to preparation of ingredients. The main sell is the cooking. Anyone can prepare ingredients but it takes time to become a skilled cook.”
The unit includes a safety screen to separate the kitchen from the work environment, but no ventilation system has been developed yet. Walsh mentioned that Moley would develop a fire suppression system, as well as making the unit “self-aware” for the arms to stop in emergencies instead of users having to manually initiate shut down.
However, the system does not have cameras, so the robotic arms cannot sense when an ingredient has not been successfully transferred.
Walsh declined to reveal how much the unit would cost, but stated that as volume and production increase, the company will reduce the price and expand the market.