BON APP: SMARTPHONE-CONTROLLED ROBOT COOKS UP A STORM

The Robotic Kitchen Comes to Life, But It Won't Be on Sale Until 2018

Here’s one for you, a pair of robotic arms that can cook you a meal exactly the way a trained chef would. Moley the brainchild of Mark Oleynik uses a pair of robotic arms developed by Shadow Robot to follow exact instructions on how to sauté, grill, boil and sear, that results in the perfect meal. The Automated Kitchen concept allows the arms to be programed to cook any kind of dish by any chef with the ultimate goal that these recipes will be sold as apps through an online store. The robot is controlled via a touchscreen next to the oven and a smartphone app.

For the moment the robot is just a prototype, but the company hopes to have the product on general sale by 2018, and it doesn’t come cheap with an expected retail price of USD$75,000 (€68,663). There is nothing to prevent the developers from adding features that allow the robot to blend flavors along the lines of molecular gastronomy; think bacon flavored ice-cream. However, at this stage the prototype is not quite the the finished article and like most of us it makes a mess as it transfers ingredients to the pan. It uses could realistically extend further than serving the super rich, it could be used to provide freshly cooked meals to elderly or infirm people living in sheltered housing schemes. Watch the video below to see how the robotic chef works in real life.