"food robots" news and stories

Cooking has always been considered more than just a practice of necessity. The craft, the aromas, the flavors -- all of these particulars have made it a beloved art form, whether we're talking about a fried egg or a carefully created tray of sushi. But forget all that! Why hit the kitchen when you can leave it up to robots?

Always blazing the trail for robotics -- headed by visionaries like Hiroshi Ishiguro -- the Japanese are hitting the kitchen. The above video, from this year's International Food Machinery & Technology Exhibition in Tokyo, features the coming wave of kitchen robotics. So far, they've created pancake and sushi chefs, plus a rolling drink waiter and one maniacal robot slicer.

Tomio Sugiura, President of Sugiura Kikai Sekkei, declares in the video that robots are our future, and just as we have cars now, soon we'll have machines to help out at home.

While we'd love ourselves a wiggling slicer to take care of more tedious tasks, would a real foodie want to hand it all over to robots?



[Via YouTube]

Some folks in Pittsburgh were taking a class in robot art when they were inspired them to make an all-edible robot. Thus Nano Krispies were born, a sculpted Rice Krispies treat that has a frighteningly human-like physique. They have a website with instructions on how to make your own, a list of what foods work well for robot sculpting and an instructional video (with incongruous background music) that has helpful tips like, "don't lose a finger!" This a concept that takes playing with your food to a whole new level. This food might just turn around and play back.

Photo credit
Via BoingBoing