The future is here.
Scientists at Cambridge University designed a culinary robot, which has been trained to imitate the human's process of tasting.
The robot chef can taste a dish's saltiness and the myriad of ingredients at different stages of chewing, according to a report by The Guardian.
The robot does not only distinguish between foods that taste good and those that do not. It is also designed to become better cooks.
According to the researchers at Cambridge, by replicating the human tasting process, the robot is expected to come up with a tastier end product. This is a step above current electronic testing that only provides an image of a food's salinity.
How Can a Robot Chef Be a Better Cook?
According to the researchers, they trained the robot to make omelets to map human taste. The robot tasted nine variations of scrambled egg and tomatoes at three stages of the chewing process, as per The Guardian report.
The researchers used a salinity sensor attached to the robot's arm, which provided readings as the robot prepared dishes. The team who developed the robot chef blended the egg mixture and had the robot test the dish again to imitate the chewing progress.
According to Grzegorz Sochacki, one of the researchers from Cambridge's department of engineering: "If robots are to be used for certain aspects of food preparation, it's important that they are able to 'taste' what they're cooking."
The concept of tasting is to check whether the balance of flavors is right in a dish's cooking process. According to researchers, this is a critical approach because the human perception of taste relies on saliva produced during chewing and digestive enzymes to decide whether food is enjoyable or not, as per The Guardian report.
Sochacki said that the robot could do much more than simply telling a dish was too salty or not enough. The robot is an advanced invention capable of deciding whether more mixing or ingredient is needed.
"In the end it's just a single sensor which wouldn't be able to do two different ingredients normally. But thanks to chewing, we see all the different changes through mechanical processing," Sochacki said in an interview.
The robotic arms were made smaller and more affordable, although it looks similar to those in a car factory. It is affordable enough for kitchen use in chain restaurants where it will be really useful.
Can You Use the Robot's Help to Cook at Home?
According to Sochacki, the robot will be able to help out with the cooking at home, too, but it will probably happen a few years away from now.
The researchers are exploring the possibility of teaching the robot to adapt to an individual's tastes, such as preferring sweet or oily food, and eventually becoming an integral part of the household.
According to Dr. Muhammad Chughtai, a senior scientist at the domestic appliances manufacturer Beko, who worked with the Cambridge University researchers, the technology of culinary robots will play a major role in homes in the future.
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