A group of researchers at the University of Cambridge has created a robot “chef’ that is trained to taste food at different stages of the chewing process. While it is tasting the food, the robot determines if it’s sufficiently seasoned.
... Humans go through a complex process when chewing food where we notice changes in texture and taste. The robotic counterpart tasted nine variations of scrambled eggs and tomatoes, and it did so during three different stages of the chewing process. The result was ‘taste maps’ of the different dishes. ...
The team of researchers belong to Cambridge’s Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory run by Professor Fumiya Iida of the Department of Engineering. This lab works to train robots to carry out tasks that humans find easy but prove difficult for robots. One of these tasks is cooking. ...
The technique is still a proof of concept, but the researchers believe robots will eventually be able to create food that humans will enjoy. They could even produce personalized food depending on the individual’s tastes. ...