A trivet that talks back
This cool concept is part of MIT's "Counter Intelligence" project.
When you think of MIT, you probably think of math. Maybe some blackjack, thanks to the movie 21. But I'm betting you don't think about cooking. And even if you think about cooking, you certainly aren't thinking trivets.
Yeah, trivets. Those little things you slide under hot pots to keep your table from being scorched. Well, it turns out that even if you're not thinking about them, the guys at MIT are, as part of the "Counter Intelligence" project. Looks like these guys are as much into kitchen gadgets as we are!
Ernesto Arroyo, an MIT Ph.D. candidate, came up with an oven mitt that understands the cooking environment. Dubbed the Talking Trivet, the mitt uses a thermoresistor to sense food and container temperature. And then, of course, it talks.
If you've heated something to more than 600 degrees, the trivet yells, "Fire!" Grab the casserole that's been sitting on the counter for 40 minutes, and it will tell you that it "needs rewarming."
The trivet also sets an automatic timer for cooking based on oven temperature. It can tell you when to check the food based on how high the temperature is.
Cool concept. No word on when the Talking Trivet might be chatting away in a kitchen near you.