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 In news that will, if nothing else, help my family breathe a collective sigh of relief, robotic chefs may soon be taking over our kitchens.
Scientists from Carnegie Mellon and Sony have been at work combining artificial intelligence and robotics in an effort to improve food preparation in the kitchen.
"The technology necessary for a robot to handle the complex and varied task of food preparation and delivery could be applied to a broader set of skills and industries," Sony wrote. "Applications could include those where machines must handle fragile and irregularly shaped materials and carry out complex household and small business tasks."
Once the robots are programmed to adequately handle details such as special dietary restrictions and allergies, the team imagines that the robots will eventually be capable of delivering food and setting the table while also preparing meals.
"Making and serving food is an immense challenge for automation, so we're excited about the types of machines and software that might emerge as we jointly explore a variety of approaches and solutions," said Andrew Moore, dean of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. "Both Sony and CMU aim high, so we are confident this research will produce technologies that impact robotics across a broad number of applications.”
“This project has the potential to make the vast possibilities of AI and robotics more familiar and accessible to the general public," said Hiroaki Kitano, Sony engineer and leader of the team of robotics engineers and machine learning experts from Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science in Pittsburgh. "Additionally, it could also assist those for whom daily tasks, such as food preparation, are challenging. I am very excited to be working with the talented scientists at CMU to make this vision a reality."
Until the day when a far more competent robot emerges and takes over the food prep tasks in the kitchen, my family will just have to endure the nightly sound of the smoke alarm in mine.
Source:
Kevin Payravi / CC BY-Sa 3.0
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