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(Credit: Chefs)I always believed the future to be a wonderful place filled with lots of flying things and robots who enjoyed working for humanity. While much of that hasn't happened, at least our food hasn't turned into bland tasteless pellets that we consume once a day for all of our nutritional needs. That would be a very bleak future indeed. While we may not be flying around in jet packs just yet, we still have a rich and diverse food culture that seems to have no end. If there were a future in which we all had to eat somewhat unfamiliar forms of food, I would hope that we would be smart enough as a people to gravitate toward dehydrated food.
The L'Equip FilterPro Food Dehydrator may one day represent an appliance as common as microwaves are today. A simple-to-use home device, the dehydrator cleanly and easily transforms fresh fruits and vegetables into delicious preserved meals. The patent-pending air filtration system removes impurities from the air and then circulates the filtered air through all of the trays. As the food is drying, the temperature is continually monitored and adjusted, allowing for consistent drying with precise results. The digital time and temperature controls are easy to use, while a 24-hour timer works in conjunction with an auto shutoff feature.
Containing everything you need to get a head start on the future, including a recipe manual, the dehydrator offers a glimpse of one particularly delicious possible future. Food flavors are intensified during the drying process, and the resulting dried fruits and vegetables are delicious. The natural food preservation method is not only handy for saving food, but is also a great way to keep healthy snacks always on hand. As long as we keep on this track and stay away from the dreaded food-pellet future, I can wait on that jet pack and overly happy robot population.
This weekend, crunchy snacks are going to be consumed across the country in staggering amounts. All the Super Bowl parties filled with delicious treats can only mean one thing: somebody has to clean it all up. Well, now, maybe not a somebody, but rather, a something.
Powered by two AA batteries, the Mini Robo Vacuum skirts across your kitchen table (or Super Bowl spread) picking up crumbs or other small bits of unwanted trash. All you have to do is push the button on top of its little robot head and off it goes.
The small robot vacuum cleaner measures 5 inches by 4 inches, and comes in three different colors. As a regular addition to your normal tablescape it should fit right in.
At only $20, the Mini Robo Vacuum isn't going to compare with a powerful robotic vacuum cleaner such as the Roomba. However, I would rather have one of these little guys scuttling about my kitchen countertop.
Certainly this weekend, robot cleaners large and small will be put to good use. Considering the amount of pretzels, potato chips, and crackers that will be consumed over this Super Bowl weekend, the robot cleaners are going to be working overtime no matter how close the game is.
(Via Dvice)
Meet the bartending robot, Bar2D2, the radio controlled drink dispenser.
(Credit: Jamie Price)If you want to be the life of the party, it turns out you're better suited if you happen not to be alive at all. Case in point: Bar2D2. This non-sentient bartender-bot certainly seems to be the life of the party in this Flickr photostream.
Designed and constructed by Jamie Price, the radio-controlled bartender/bar was unleashed on the crowd at the recent ArcAttack Mad Scientist Ball. Far from an unwelcome robotic intrusion, Bar2D2 made friends with everybody from Darth Vader to Freddy from Nightmare on Elm Street at the Sci-fi-themed convention.
And who wouldn't want Bar2D2 unleashed among them? Bearing good will gifts of alcohol, the drink droid includes a carousel that holds six bottles. Bar2D2 not only handles mixed drinks, but also comes equipped with a beer dispenser. Need a canned mixer, such as Coke or Red Bull instead? Bar2D2 has you covered, with a lower cooler drawer incorporated right into its base.
This is just the beginning for Bar2D2, as the designer has plans for future versions. Considering how awesome this first iteration looks, I hope a major manufacturer picks it up. With your own Bar2D2 in tow, you are to sure to be a hit at any party you attend.
(Via Hack a Day)
Meet the iBasket.
(Credit: Guopeng Liang)It's not quite the washing-machine robot I've been waiting for, but it will have to do in the meantime. This finalist from the Electrolux Design Lab '08 contest is called the iBasket, a Wi-Fi-connected laundry hamper from the future. Guopeng Liang submitted the winning design.
The idea is to use this as a hamper, throwing your dirty clothes in as they accumulate. The iBasket then senses when the load is full and initiates the wash cycle. Since it is Wi-Fi-enabled, the concept washing machine can even alert you when the load is complete.
Made out of acrylic, recycled aluminum, and plastic, the iBasket certainly looks cool. Besides the unfortunate name, (please, please, change before production) the only other wish I would have for this device is for it to have legs.
Legs. You know, like a robot. It looks pretty cool with its clear, sleek design, but it would look even cooler if it had legs and automatically ran around the house looking for things to wash. Along with my robot vacuum cleaner and concept Bubble Dishwasher I wrote up the other day, my house would be a welcome haven for all those cleaning-obsessed robots.
(Via Born Rich)
Is there anything that sound waves cannot do? This concept ultrasonic bubble dishwasher isn't even the first ultrasonic dishwasher we've come across. But still, the fact that it's round, sleek, and bubble-shaped can only mean good things.
I can get a handle behind the theory of how I imagine this ultrasonic dishwasher works: shake the dirt loose with sound waves, and maybe filter small particles while letting the larger ones sink to the bottom. Drop it in the water, let it float around, presto-cleano, no more dirty dishes. It even has LED indicator lights to let you know when it's done.
So, as we keep seeing new ways of doing things, technology keeps dropping these round little cleaners on us every few years. We already have those vacuum cleaner robots, which happen to be kind of bubble-shaped, or at least roundish.
For a concept piece, this is right up there with all the concepts I imagine taking over in the not-too-distant future. I know I can think of all sorts of daily chores that need bubble ultrasonic cleaner things--round or not. I know my hamper could certainly use some sort of magic cleaning device. Between my whole house and all the chores that pile up, I, for one, will anxiously be waiting for a whole army of them.
via Cooking Gadgets
If you think about it, the kitchen is not really a safe place. Even the simplest of recipes calls for playing with fire (or heat at least if you're into microwaveables). Introducing control to a noncognitive entity might be inviting a recipe for disaster. Especially one comprised of metal alloys. I assume any robot working in my kitchen can withstand hot soup burns of a much higher degree that I could. I would hope my personal robotic chef has a keen sensitivity to my human heat tolerance.
That's exactly what the research team at Bristol Robotics Lab is trying to determine. The Cooperative Human Robot Interaction Systems project is a collaborative research partnership between the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England. The team hopes to demonstrate the capability of robots to be able to determine nonverbal communication along with the steps needed to achieve a common goal.
The Director of BRL, Professor Chris Melhuish, explains: "For example in the soup situation, not only does the robot need to know what the goal is (making the soup) but he also needs to know how hard to stir the soup, what it means when you hold up your hand to say enough, to interpret the look of pain on your face if you accidentally get splashed with hot soup, and to stop stirring when told."
For the cost of a few burnt tongues and roofs-of-mouths, this research promises to increase safety in the kitchen of the future. That sounds good to me and, with time, I bet it'll taste good too.
(Credit:
Readybot)
Don't get me wrong: I'm all for domestic robots. I own a Roomba. I professed my admiration for the Robot Chef. But the humanoid dish-washing robot we saw last year creeps me out. (Blame it on watching too much Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.)
Fortunately, that doesn't mean I have to give up hope of ever having robotic help in the kitchen. Readybot, a proof-of-concept kitchen-cleaning robot built by a club of Silicon Valley engineers, looks totally non-threatening, like a boxy R2-D2. Because it's put together by a group of enthusiasts, the robot uses common, mass-produced parts and readily available software.
The bot is currently capable of taking over several mundane kitchen-cleaning tasks, such as cleaning the counters and loading the dishwasher. Eventually, the club hopes Readybot will be able to complete up to 80 percent of your everyday kitchen cleaning.
To get a taste of the Readybot in action, check out this YouTube video of a test run earlier this year. Though it's obviously in the very early stages of development, the engineers suggest that it could be market-ready in as little as two years. My kitchen is waiting.
(Via Unplggd)
(Credit:
InventorSpot.com)
To paraphrase the T-shirt: This was supposed to be the future. Where is my robot chef for days when I'm too tired to cook?
Turns out, the future is just around the corner. Liu Changfa, a retired professor in Beijing, has grabbed headlines with the prototype of his "food robot." The 5-foot-tall iron chef comprises a base that houses a computer, a gut that contains an induction cooker and a pot, and a chest that frames a screen. The chef also has a robotic arm to help with stirring as well as a C-3PO-esque mien that's far friendlier than the other robot chef we've seen.
Hungry humans can program recipes into the food robot's computer, then kick back with a cocktail while the bot assembles the meal. More than 200 diners have enjoyed the machine's cuisine thus far, and reportedly taste testers have found the food to be on par with a traditional restaurant kitchen, flavor-wise. (No mention has been made of the robot's plating abilities.)
My wish for the future: Join this chef with MIT's diet-monitoring robot and Japan's dishwashing robot to form a multinational triumvirate of domestic robot awesomeness. Here's to a tasty future!
Via Ubergizmo.com
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