4 ms·

Robotic Kitchen Automation Levels

19 points by lorepieri 5y ago

kwertyoowiyop 5y ago
Would a Level 5 automated bar be easier? What level do we have with coffee? Those machines must be level 4 now.
- Groxx 5y ago
  Those levels seem pretty vague to me... but yeah, coffee has become quite automated, possibly among the most-automated. "Dump in green coffee beans" -> "get brewed coffee" with basically a single button press is a thing you can buy for your house, and e.g. Starbucks' espresso machines do practically everything except pour the milk and coffee together at the end (... level 3? Humans pump the syrup and pour the end result together and that's practically it).
  - gs17 5y ago
    And there already are machines that will put the milk in too. I'm not a fan of how they come out but you can pretty much automate a latte now.
slownews45 5y ago
https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/1027/cruising-with-robot-bartenders/ https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/1027/cruisin...
visarga 5y ago
Yeah but you still have to chew the food yourself ... not 100% automated.
- mattnewton 5y ago
  Soylent is working on this
- lorepieri 5y ago
  Level 6: The robot is also eating the food for you. :)
pmahoney 5y ago
> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas. Sounds dystopian. Hustle and bustle of life aside, physically cooking things can be enjoyable. On the other hand, when I cook "from scratch", I'm buying conveniently packaged ingredients (I don't grow or grind my own flour for example), so maybe I'm happy with my current level of effort from simple familiarity.
- vineyardmike 5y ago
  Counter example: i tried to get a kitchenless apartment but couldn't get one that wasnt TINY so it just wasn't worth it. But i totaly would get one if i could save some money (to help pay for eating out more) and could re-use that space for other things.
- throwaway6734 5y ago
  I doubt apartments with kitchens would cease to exist although they would probably cost more than those without
- chillel 5y ago
  Most people don't like to cook or don't care enough to do it themselves. The average household spends an inordinate amount on takeout and that figure will only grow [1]. One could argue 'dark kitchens' are dystopian... food prepared by chefs emulating the menus of restaurants with which they have no affiliation. This has become common in cities all over the world. Deliveroo's dark kitchen network started off using recycled shipping containers [2]. Those who have to prepare meals for multiple mouths (aka parents) eventually get burnt out by cooking. I love cooking, but I don't see this as dystopic; the kitchen is ripe for technological revolution, and I welcome the democratization of good and (hopefully) healthy food. [1] https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/why-more-people-are-choosing-to-eat-out https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/why-more-people-ar... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-dark-kitchens-pop-up-feeding-the-city-london https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-d...
  - tzs 5y ago
karaterobot 5y ago
The problem is that sometimes I would love a level five automated kitchen that does everything for me. Other times, I want a level zero automated kitchen, where I can enjoy the process of cooking. My guess is, I'd get one or the other, but never both. If I had to choose only one, I'd go with the kitchen I have, which doesn't take any control away from me, and probably doesn't have any hidden gotchas like subscription fees and constant surveillance of my life in order to ensure my refrigerator knows when to order more milk.
atsmyles 5y ago
I was imagining having a fully automated kitchen in my apartment, but just like autonomous cars, ownership doesn't make sense. Add to customizations of also choosing the ingredients (local vs global, organic, etc), why bother to go shopping and learning to cook. Like driving, there would still be people that have kitchens at home for which cooking is a hobby. It just wouldn't be necessary for the majority of the population who just want "home cooked meals" without the work or waste of doing it from home.
liuliu 5y ago
I am not sure how to make out of this article. Level 4 sounds like most food factories, from producing breads, cookies, ice creams, instant noodles, to frozen pizza. Where does the 2020s timeline come from?
- mitchdoogle 5y ago
  He's talking about kitchens, versatile spaces in homes in which almost any kind of food can be prepared.
ksec 5y ago
>> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas. I remember Silicon Valley managed to sell the vision of "Cloud Kitchen" to VC. As someone who has some experience with Restaurants I am extremely skeptical of LV 5 Robotic Kitchen. For the same reason why Foxconn Robot still cant replace human workers. I do imagine it may work in a larger scale Tesla like manufacturing operation.
- lorepieri 5y ago
  One may argue that level 5 will require a weak AGI, assuming that the hardware is not extremely over-engineered.
aaron695 5y ago
This is a really bad system of measurement. But it's a great idea to try and start trying to measure it. It's missing. Cooking is nothing like a car driving from A to B on a road. It's more like building a house. Getting rice from the pantry to a pot and liquid stock from the fridge to the same pot is insanely hard. Harder or the same as level 5 driving, unless you use tricks. Nothing is currently Level 2. We can't top pizza, we can't make cocktails. What seems easy we just can't do. The best we can get is ultra expense machines that cost more than a human for some of these things, people pay to watch a robot. (Factory frozen pizza do automate toppings, one pizza per factory floor or whatever) Automation in the kitchen will probably be like building a house for a long time. That's augmenting a human. Electric knives is a old one. Water plumbed to the coffee machine (I would love this but it cost to much money). Timers. Pre-cooked meals/prepared ingredients... prefab does work for cooking. Delivered food, cooked or uncooked. Domino's photograph all pizzas leaving the store and assess them. Dishwasher safe is getting better, but still not fully there. Michelin-starred restaurants loved Nespresso pods. That's was some serious automation for instance. Logically you'd think microwaves are the next big thing. There are numerous known issues that keep them on the edge of unacceptability. But if people felt comfortable and wanted to cook with them, that would change a lot.

19 points by lorepieri 5y ago

kwertyoowiyop 5y ago

Would a Level 5 automated bar be easier? What level do we have with coffee? Those machines must be level 4 now.

Groxx 5y ago
Those levels seem pretty vague to me... but yeah, coffee has become quite automated, possibly among the most-automated. "Dump in green coffee beans" -> "get brewed coffee" with basically a single button press is a thing you can buy for your house, and e.g. Starbucks' espresso machines do practically everything except pour the milk and coffee together at the end (... level 3? Humans pump the syrup and pour the end result together and that's practically it).
- gs17 5y ago
  And there already are machines that will put the milk in too. I'm not a fan of how they come out but you can pretty much automate a latte now.

slownews45 5y ago

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/1027/cruising-with-robot-bartenders/ https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/1027/cruisin...

visarga 5y ago

Yeah but you still have to chew the food yourself ... not 100% automated.

mattnewton 5y ago
Soylent is working on this
lorepieri 5y ago
Level 6: The robot is also eating the food for you. :)

pmahoney 5y ago

> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas. Sounds dystopian. Hustle and bustle of life aside, physically cooking things can be enjoyable. On the other hand, when I cook "from scratch", I'm buying conveniently packaged ingredients (I don't grow or grind my own flour for example), so maybe I'm happy with my current level of effort from simple familiarity.

vineyardmike 5y ago
Counter example: i tried to get a kitchenless apartment but couldn't get one that wasnt TINY so it just wasn't worth it. But i totaly would get one if i could save some money (to help pay for eating out more) and could re-use that space for other things.
throwaway6734 5y ago
I doubt apartments with kitchens would cease to exist although they would probably cost more than those without
chillel 5y ago
Most people don't like to cook or don't care enough to do it themselves. The average household spends an inordinate amount on takeout and that figure will only grow [1]. One could argue 'dark kitchens' are dystopian... food prepared by chefs emulating the menus of restaurants with which they have no affiliation. This has become common in cities all over the world. Deliveroo's dark kitchen network started off using recycled shipping containers [2]. Those who have to prepare meals for multiple mouths (aka parents) eventually get burnt out by cooking. I love cooking, but I don't see this as dystopic; the kitchen is ripe for technological revolution, and I welcome the democratization of good and (hopefully) healthy food. [1] https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/why-more-people-are-choosing-to-eat-out https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/why-more-people-ar... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-dark-kitchens-pop-up-feeding-the-city-london https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-d...
- tzs 5y ago

karaterobot 5y ago

The problem is that sometimes I would love a level five automated kitchen that does everything for me. Other times, I want a level zero automated kitchen, where I can enjoy the process of cooking. My guess is, I'd get one or the other, but never both. If I had to choose only one, I'd go with the kitchen I have, which doesn't take any control away from me, and probably doesn't have any hidden gotchas like subscription fees and constant surveillance of my life in order to ensure my refrigerator knows when to order more milk.

atsmyles 5y ago

I was imagining having a fully automated kitchen in my apartment, but just like autonomous cars, ownership doesn't make sense. Add to customizations of also choosing the ingredients (local vs global, organic, etc), why bother to go shopping and learning to cook. Like driving, there would still be people that have kitchens at home for which cooking is a hobby. It just wouldn't be necessary for the majority of the population who just want "home cooked meals" without the work or waste of doing it from home.

liuliu 5y ago

I am not sure how to make out of this article. Level 4 sounds like most food factories, from producing breads, cookies, ice creams, instant noodles, to frozen pizza. Where does the 2020s timeline come from?

mitchdoogle 5y ago
He's talking about kitchens, versatile spaces in homes in which almost any kind of food can be prepared.

ksec 5y ago

>> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas. I remember Silicon Valley managed to sell the vision of "Cloud Kitchen" to VC. As someone who has some experience with Restaurants I am extremely skeptical of LV 5 Robotic Kitchen. For the same reason why Foxconn Robot still cant replace human workers. I do imagine it may work in a larger scale Tesla like manufacturing operation.

lorepieri 5y ago
One may argue that level 5 will require a weak AGI, assuming that the hardware is not extremely over-engineered.

aaron695 5y ago

This is a really bad system of measurement. But it's a great idea to try and start trying to measure it. It's missing. Cooking is nothing like a car driving from A to B on a road. It's more like building a house. Getting rice from the pantry to a pot and liquid stock from the fridge to the same pot is insanely hard. Harder or the same as level 5 driving, unless you use tricks. Nothing is currently Level 2. We can't top pizza, we can't make cocktails. What seems easy we just can't do. The best we can get is ultra expense machines that cost more than a human for some of these things, people pay to watch a robot. (Factory frozen pizza do automate toppings, one pizza per factory floor or whatever) Automation in the kitchen will probably be like building a house for a long time. That's augmenting a human. Electric knives is a old one. Water plumbed to the coffee machine (I would love this but it cost to much money). Timers. Pre-cooked meals/prepared ingredients... prefab does work for cooking. Delivered food, cooked or uncooked. Domino's photograph all pizzas leaving the store and assess them. Dishwasher safe is getting better, but still not fully there. Michelin-starred restaurants loved Nespresso pods. That's was some serious automation for instance. Logically you'd think microwaves are the next big thing. There are numerous known issues that keep them on the edge of unacceptability. But if people felt comfortable and wanted to cook with them, that would change a lot.