from the too-lazy-to-take-care-of-ourselves dept.
The world's first robotic kitchen prepares crab bisque for breakfast:
A couple of weeks ago, I was invited along to a warehouse in north London to see what is being billed as "the world's first automated kitchen." The system, made by Moley Robotics in the UK, can only make crab bisque right now—and it requires that all of the ingredients and utensils are pre-positioned perfectly. The goal, though, is to have a consumer-ready version within two years, priced at around £10,000 ($14,600). The company envisions an "iTunes style library of recipes" that you can download and have your robot chef prepare.
In its current form, the Moley Robotic Kitchen is essentially two very expensive robotic arms, with two even dearer fully articulated biomimetic humanoid hands made by the Shadow Robot Company on the ends. In front of the robot is a kitchen—a sink, a stovetop, an oven, and a range of utensils, including the aforementioned blender. The ingredients are placed in bowls and cups on the worktop. Once everything is set up, an engineer simply presses "start" on the controlling PC, the robot arms whirl around for 30 minutes, and voilà: crab bisque.
Simply stunning. Fresh from the arms of your android girlfriend, you awake from a coding/WoW binge to a delicately prepared breakfast of crab bisque. Geek nirvana, here we come!
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Steve Abrams, the director of IBM's Watson Life research program, told Quartz that Watson scanned publicly available data sources to build up a vast library of information on recipes, the chemical compounds in food, and common pairings. (For any budding gastronomers out there, Abrams said Wikia was a surprisingly useful source.) Knowledge that might've taken a lifetime for a Michelin-starred chef to attain can now be accessed instantly from your tablet.
The Watson team has actually published a cookbook of its AI-inspired dishes in partnership with the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE), which launches April 14. While Quartz has not been able to test out Watson's esoteric parings yet, here are some that stood out:
- Belgian bacon pudding, a desert containing dried porcini mushrooms
- Vietnamese apple kebab, with the vaunted mushroom-and-strawberry pairing
- Portuguese lobster roll, with appetizing "saffron fluid gel"
- Hoof-n-Honey ale, with veal stock
- Thai-Jewish chicken, with potato latkes and rice balls
- The shrimp cocktail, which is a beverage with actual shrimp in it
- Kenyan Brussels spouts, with cardamom
It sounds like another sort of molecular gastronomy. Have any Soylentils eaten recipes like that? Does it work?
Robots may soon make your FedEx delivery from Walmart, Target and Pizza Hut
The robotic contraption rolling down the street just might be delivering a FedEx package to your home or office. That's the vision, anyway, behind the FedEx SameDay Bot that the shipping giant unveiled Wednesday. This sub-200-pound autonomous delivery robot was developed by DEKA Development & Research Corp, whose founder is Segway inventor Dean Kamen.
The SameDay Bot is so-named because its mission is to help retailers make same-day, "last mile" deliveries to local customers. FedEx is collaborating with AutoZone, Lowe's, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart.
FedEx plans to test the bot this summer in select markets and FedEx Office locations, starting in the company's own Memphis hometown, pending final approval by the city. That approval would appear to be likely since it has the backing of Mayor Jim Strickland.
According to FedEx, on average, more than 60 percent of merchants' customers live within three miles of a store location, demonstrating the opportunity for on-demand, hyper-local delivery.
BTW, where's my breakfast? (Pizza in bed, please.)
Also at The Verge and Engadget.
Related: Domino's Trials Pizza Delivery Robot With 12-Mile Range
Self-Driving Robot Might be Future of Home Delivery
Delivery Robots: a Revolutionary Step or Sidewalk-Clogging Nightmare?
San Francisco May Ban Delivery Robots
Kroger Launches Trial of Same-Day Autonomous Grocery Delivery Service in Scottsdale, Arizona
In sci-fi films, the rise of humanlike artificial intelligence often comes hand in hand with a physical platform, such as an android or robot. While the most advanced AI language models so far seem mostly like disembodied voices echoing from an anonymous data center, they might not remain that way for long. Some companies like Google, Figure, Microsoft, Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and others are working toward giving AI models a body. This is called "embodiment," and AI chipmaker Nvidia wants to accelerate the process.
[...] To that end, Nvidia announced Project GR00T, a general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots. As a type of AI model itself, Nvidia hopes GR00T (which stands for "Generalist Robot 00 Technology" but sounds a lot like a famous Marvel character) will serve as an AI mind for robots, enabling them to learn skills and solve various tasks on the fly. In a tweet, Nvidia researcher Linxi "Jim" Fan called the project "our moonshot to solve embodied AGI in the physical world."
[...] According to Fan, Project GR00T is a cornerstone of his newly founded GEAR Lab (short for "Generalist Embodied Agent Research"). During his time at Nvidia, Fan has specialized in using simulations of physical worlds to train AI models, and now that approach is extending to robotics. "At GEAR, we are building generally capable agents that learn to act skillfully in many worlds, virtual and real," wrote Fan in a tweet. "Join us on the journey to land on the moon."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:07PM
Can anyone explain to me why a Japanese android girlfriend has a penis?
(Score: 4, Funny) by Tork on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:23PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:29PM
Can anyone explain to me why a Japanese android girlfriend has a penis?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:17AM
It's the bisexual model.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @08:16AM
For self-stimulation when you're not available.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @10:18AM
"Sorry miss, I was giving myself an oil-job."
(Score: 3, Touché) by dyingtolive on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:11PM
So, this is how it ends then.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:22PM
What are you talking about?
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:35PM
People becoming more divisive and hostile toward each other.
Machines being designed to accommodate every social need.
Eventually no one will need to interact with anyone else that they choose not to.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:42PM
Eventually no one will need to interact with anyone else that they choose not to.
That's an odd thing to say considering the last decade has been all about social media.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:54PM
The "they choose not to" part is the significant part of that. Consider all social media, now consider all the subcategories of social media you choose not to participate in. Now consider all those subcategories that would be openly hostile toward you were there no laws preventing such things from happening.
The frequency people are talking may be increasing, but it's who they're talking more with, and about what that is significant. The groups forming matter, and if you think organizations are interested in that only for want of "terrorism", I have a bridge to sell you.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday April 16 2015, @10:48AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:58PM
This should scare the shit out of IRS (...and death).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:17PM
In the distant future, enough men would take a realistic, unageing, sex-at-any-time yet faithful gyndroid over a human female that it would disrupt society. Just think of the socially-hopeless fedora-wearers who would gladly buy a gyndroid. They're your early-adopters. Then you get the middle-aged men who are in undersexed marriages, who will sell these machines to their wives as domestic help as well as a way to keep his nagging needs in check. Human wives would rather have husbands 'cheat' with a machine than a real-life woman, if they even see it as cheating at all.
The situation with women could be similar if the AI meets their emotional needs rather than purely sexual ones. These androids could have extra equipment to stimulate the clitoris while providing a thrusting motion, replacing men via a superior experience. Even artificial sweat and pheromones could be used, or perhaps even an oxytocin analog.
Could we even see a society where human-on-human action is rare and human-droid action is the norm? Is this the first step towards being assimilated into the Borg?
I'm not sure if the correct spelling should be Gyndroids or Gynedroids. Any Greek scholars here?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:32PM
> Any Greek scholars here?
The "Greek" scholars are all into androids. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
(Score: 3, Funny) by sigma on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:54AM
The "Greek" scholars are all into androids.
That's only because the iPhone Maps-using Greeks all ended up in Atlantis instead of Athens. RIP guys.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:34PM
This machine is vaporware, so you've got nothing to worry about - at least from that end of things. Making a robot that goes through a set of programmed motions: that's easy. But it's basically useless for anything outside of an assembly line. The hard part is making a robot that adjusts to an unpredictable environment.
People used to worry about getting replaced by robots - but the thing is, all the jobs that can easily be automated have been automated a long time ago, and there's still plenty of jobs left. Automating those jobs is turning out to be much, much harder. I'm not even talking about "skilled" work, but stupid shit like washing dishes, cleaning toilets, or picking fruit.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:08AM
No, this is how it begins! With robot food preparation, we can break the grip that the fast food industry has on us. Save a bunch of money, and eat healthier. I don't call being dependent upon fast food a social good, or giving orders to a poor slob stuck in a minimum wage burger flipping job the social interaction that society needs to survive.
Super Size that, McDevils!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:23AM
1. $15 minimum wage movement succeeds [soylentnews.org]
2. Robots drop in price while increasing functionality
3. Mass layoffs
4. 3D printing get gud
5. More layoffs
6. Agitated underclass
X. ???
69. Utopia
∞. Euphoria
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @08:10AM
Still better than robots to cook you as breakfast, don't you think?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday April 16 2015, @06:17PM
So, this is how it ends then.
Not with a whimper but with bangers and mash?
(Score: 4, Funny) by RobotMonster on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:48PM
There was nothing wrong with that food. The salt level was 10% less than a lethal dose.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday April 15 2015, @10:48PM
Same with robot bar tenders. We already have factories producing very similar products, but conveyor belts don't look like robots. Now two robot hands, that is a robot!
The hands implementation does increase versatility. However, even Amazon struggles with endofectors picking up objects, I doubt this small startup to be able to handle a tomato properly.
If you keep to relatively similar recipes (like stirfry or stew) I imagine a consumer size automated food prep robot is reasonable. Hoppers with feedstock and a conveyor to collect them, then a cooking vessel that can be stirred. But then it looks more like a factory, and not so much like the Jetsons.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:46PM
Yeah, if this robot needs everything set in the precise right starting locations, then it could just be following a fixed set of instructions.
Factory-style robots to make food on a smaller scale are interesting because they could replace restaurant kitchens. I remember seeing a company trying to sell one that made fancy burgers cheaply, but it's not cheap enough to replace fast food workers yet. I could see low-end restaurants getting automated as such things get cheaper and wages go up (fast food jobs are awful jobs; it's better for everyone if they get automated out of existence). Higher-end restaurants will probably pride themselves on having humans prepare the food and there are some hard problems there in selecting quality ingredients and adjusting to exactly what you have available that a skilled human can perform but getting a robot to perform the same task is both difficult and doesn't have a clear short-term profit motive. In the long-term, whoever can sell a $10k robot that can prepare gourmet restaurant quality meals in your home is going to make a lot of money.
Which leads into what makes a "robot" interesting separate from a "factory", since, as you point out, they aren't all that different. I would say that for household use, the robot would be something that can work with an existing kitchen (and therefore have to be able to handle a wide variety of kitchens) and can be put in a closet when not in use (so it can't be a big immovable hunk of steel). I see a lot of research showing simple kitchen tasks as example tasks for a robot and they're getting better... but they still aren't very good. Two years to commercialization is unbelievably optimistic. Two years to a research demo in controlled circumstances would be impressive.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Thursday April 16 2015, @10:52AM
Higher-end restaurants will probably pride themselves on having humans prepare the food and there are some hard problems there in selecting quality ingredients and adjusting to exactly what you have available that a skilled human can perform but getting a robot to perform the same task is both difficult and doesn't have a clear short-term profit motive
I can imagine that even in a decent restaurant there's a lot in a kitchen that could be automated. Larger restaurants have a number of workers in the kitchen doing fairly menial tasks (chopping, cleaning vegetables, stirring, and so on) that could all be automated.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:02PM
My breakfast is an omelet, egg mcmuffin type thing, or a breakfast burrito. All take 8 minutes (takes that long to cook my bacon the way I like it).
Now a robot that did the dishes, that would be wonderful. When I was married my wife got home about 7 PM to a dinner cooked by me. We ate, and she cleaned up. She enjoyed cleaning, I was the better cook, it worked for both of us.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday April 15 2015, @11:26PM
Now a robot that did the dishes, that would be wonderful.
This is precisely why fast-food automation is nowhere near likely to happen any time soon.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by sigma on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:58AM
Now a robot that did the dishes, that would be wonderful.
I have some good news for you...
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=dishwasher [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:05AM
d..d..dishwasher-safe!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Murdoc on Thursday April 16 2015, @12:35AM
...that Technocracy [technocracy.ca] is possible today, and that the idea of linking income to labor is getting even more outdated and problematic.
Actually I think of this as being not so much of a breakthrough as more of just another step in automation. I'm sure that things like frozen dinners are already completely automatically manufactured, and if not yet, they sure could be. This is just for freshly prepared restaurant-like meals. And even then it's still an inefficient way of doing it, by mimicking human design. Yes, it provides flexibility, but properly scaled up, more specialized machines could handle specific tasks far more efficiently and provide meals of equal quality. The only thing is that you'd need a lot of infrastructure to support that, including delivery system, which no company could really afford right now. In a Technocracy something like that would be built in, just like the Utilities Distribution Planning [technocracy.ca] system to deliver it would be. Then you'd be able to have any restaurant-like meal you want, any time of day, delivered straight into your home (or many other places), all automatically. Now that's geek nirvana!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:15AM
Coding and gaming are opposites, right? One is work, the other is play, right? Like apples and oranges, right? No?!
Well now, if "coders" really do put as little thought into their work as it takes to play games, that would certainly explain why software is of such low quality these days.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday April 16 2015, @09:27PM
I'm no fan of WoW myself, but if you think games like WoW (or LoL, or EVE, or DotA) don't take a lot of thought, you are sorely mistaken. The players of those games put in more effort than, say, most government and managerial workers.
Do programmers remember every quirk and API detail of every piece of software and hardware they use? Good DotA players know every single statistic and interaction between those statistics of every character and item in their game. If programmers really put "as little thought" into their work as those gamers, software quality would shoot through the stratosphere.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday April 16 2015, @09:39PM
That is true, and it is why I think gamification on some level could work to make the world a better place. For example, if you had to learn Chinese to complete your WoW quest, there'd probably be tens of millions more fluent, non-Chinese, speakers of Chinese pretty quickly. You could do the same for other subjects, of course, and shortly you'd have much, much better educated young for far less than the current university- and student loan system affords.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday April 16 2015, @02:31AM
Prepping and washing is the tedious bits... I'd rather have a robot for that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @08:14AM
So what's wrong with the existing dishwashers?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 16 2015, @10:35AM
Those tend to mash the vegetables instead of producing neat little cubes...
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday April 16 2015, @01:40PM
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday April 17 2015, @07:56AM
The real headline, before the robots got their hands on it:
Robot Nirvana Approaches: Robots to Cook You For Breakfast
systemd is Roko's Basilisk