Ever heard of Nymble? When this smart kitchen robot was launched in the market in 2016 and marketed as a ‘private cooking robot’, the world hadn't heard the name either. Years later, it is now the topic of much deliberation, both negatively and positively. With a user interface resembling a coffee machine crossed with a stand mixer, this handy appliance cooks fresh meals all on its own with its (nimble!) AI-based technology.
Food forms the basis of everything that we do and cooking has for long been a skill that is inherently vital for sustenance. Over the years, however, humans find themselves with very little time (or rather, don’t prioritize the need) to curate balanced meals for themselves. It is at this standpoint that AI, with its rapidly evolving technology, has stepped up to help its creators feed themselves. Let's take a quick look at the different areas in which AI meets the culinary world.
Where you cook.
Smart kitchens: a space where every appliance and every countertop responds to each touch and tap of the user.
Although the Oxford Dictionary may vehemently oppose this descriptive definition, this is the essence of what a kitchen feels like in the age of AI. It’s almost like landing in the world of Roald Dahl; one feels a Wonka-esque magic in a space where ovens and cookers adjust temperatures and cooking time on their own upon considering a person’s dietary requirements, reviewing recipes and analysing ingredients placed inside of them and where refrigerators make shopping lists based on what’s running low or past expiry. Dishwashers can judge just how dirty a plate is, before setting the water and detergent levels all on its own, while also consistently reviewing its own performance and improving standards. Safety too reaches another level with smart smoke detectors that detect early fires, send out messages to owners for immediate response and can connect with sprinkler systems for quick resolution. With each appliance being tuned to the user’s usage patterns, the smart kitchen becomes a super-tool, helping even the busiest of people cook and consume healthy food.
What you cook.
Gone are the days when thinking of what to cook was a bigger task than the actual cooking. All you have to do is open one of the many AI-based recipe generators, type in your specifications, hit generate and voila! Recipes upon recipes with the same set of particulars pop up in front of you. CookAIfood, DishGen, Let’s Foodie and many more recipe generators combine cuisines, concoct unusual flavour combinations and fuse multiple dishes to create innovative and never-heard-of recipes which are then stored in a database for future users to discover.
But how reliable are these recipes? A number of food Youtubers as well as food reporters and critics set out to answer this question. One of the most popular tests was done by Joshua Weissman, a prominent Youtuber and home cook in his video Can AI beat me in Cooking?, where he served both his version as well as the AI version of classic foods to a set of friends and compared the taste. This video clearly labelled AI’s recipes as nowhere near human versions of the same in terms of both technique and taste. Priya Krishna, a food reporter from the New York Times, also tried the same with a Thanksgiving menu, yielding similar results.
Such ‘tests’ point out the gaps in the technology and reassure scores of recipe developers that their jobs are safe for a while yet.
The cooking process.
If these developments haven’t blown you away, this one is sure to. If you thought AI couldn't pop on an apron and get to work in the kitchen, you're absolutely wrong. With robotic arms that can flip, toss and saute to full-blown cooking assistants that can make entire meals, robots in the field are marching forward rapidly. The first set of these robotic hands forming part of an automated kitchen set-up, fondly called ‘Moley’, can do almost everything, from grasping pots to sauteing vegetables to grilling chicken. Samsung Bot and Flippy are some other bots that work in similar ways across different price ranges. Most of these use computer vision and a series of fine-tuned sensors, apart from other carefully programmed pieces.
What's the one thing these bots can't do? Chop ingredients. According to findings by CNET, the different levels of pressure applied on a knife from the start to end of slicing something is too complicated and costly to program as of now. This means that human involvement is not completely removed, but rather minimized in these robotic tools.
Reaching the customer.
If there’s one area that comes most naturally to the algorithmic nature of artificial intelligence, it’s tracking patterns. In the culinary industry too, AI serves well in personalizing and making food suggestions to customers based on their previous consumption patterns, with systems like Dynamic Yield. Bots can also be a suitable addition to voice and call assistance, especially with taking orders and making reservations. AI can handle mundane tasks like inventory and pricing, leaving ample time for chefs to indulge in their creative process and improve their craft.
Food delivery is another area with immense scope for AI usage. This has already been seen at the small scale with some top-notch restaurants having robotic table servers and delivery carts. An example of this was seen in Expo 2020 held in the UAE, where robotic food delivery carts were spotted, delivering ordered food to people within the area.
However we look at it, in terms of cooking like in every other field, AI is here to stay. Technology still has a long way to go before it becomes capable of replacing humans but in the meantime, humans would do well in learning their way around a kitchen - especially a smart kitchen with a couple of robotic helping hands.
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