Fancy your meal being prepared by a robot? This futuristic notion is now being made possible by Moley Robotics, the company behind the £248,000 robot-kitted-out Moley Kitchen, which cooks with human-like movements.
At the heart of the new technology are two robotic arms featuring fully-articulated ‘hands’, developed in collaboration with world-leading German robotic company SCHUNK, Moley’s exclusive hand partner. The product of 11 exhaustive development cycles they reliably reproduce the movements of human hands. This means the robot kitchen can retrieve ingredients from the smart fridge, adjust hob temperature, use the sink to fill pans and pour, mix and plate up just as a human cook would. The robot even cleans up after it has finished cooking.
The Moley Kitchen uses a combination of sensors and optical cameras to map ingredients, cookware and utensils within in the kitchen. Subtle markers on handles and pan lids help the robot orientate the stainless-steel pots, pans, and utensils. The robot’s optical system can even spot dropped food and clean up before and after cooking. An integrated UV lamp ensures the cooking area is kept germ free.
Tim Anderson, culinary innovator and winner of the prestigious BBC Master Chef competition (2011) played an integral role in the kitchen’s development, with his cooking techniques 3-D recorded then translated into elegant digital movement using bespoke algorithms. Tim and fellow chefs Nicole Pisani and Andrew Clarke have created 30 dishes to showcase the systems’ capabilities at launch, with new recipes added every month. Ultimately, Moley customers will be able to select from a digital menu with over 5000 choices, as well having the option to record their own family-favoruite dishes using Moley’s innovative recipe-creator software tool. The kitchen can be used by both humans and the robot. Bespoke stainless-steel cookware and utensils have been design to be comfortable to hold as well as providing a precision fit in robotic hands.
“What you are looking at here is the world’s first consumer robotic kitchen. Our luxury fully automated smart kitchen is now on sale, and like all breakthrough technologies – cars, televisions and computers – it will appeal to enthusiasts, professionals and early adopters, and is priced accordingly.We anticipate that our pricing will be reduced significantly over time with production volume, efficiencies and economies of scale, whilst simultaneously enhancing additional functionalities of the product”. He continued, “Whether you love food and want to explore different cuisines, follow a low-calorie diet or have special dietary requirements the Automated Kitchen can do this. Thanks to the recipe sharing platform, home cooks and chefs will be able to upload personalised variations of recipes and save family favourites for everyone to enjoy for years to come. It is not just a labour saving device – it is a platform for our creativity. It can even teach us how to become better cooks!”, said Moley Robotics founder and CEO, Mark Oleynik.
The Moley kitchen is the product of six years research and development by an international team of 100 engineers, product and luxury interior designers and three award-winning chefs. It was earlier this month at GITEX (Gulf Information Technology Exhibition), one of the world’s premier consumer technology show.
Moley Robotics was founded in 2014 by London-based computer scientist, robotics and healthcare innovator Mark Oleynik. The company is headquartered in the UK and has a showroom in Hammersmith, London.
See Moly Kitchen’s robot chef in motion here:
