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Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

newyorker.com

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Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#11

Post by horsecaptin »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #5
tantalor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no human hand... clearly a health benefit That is a non sequitur. The most dangerous illness associated with fast food (poor nutrition aside) such as E. coli[1] and Hep A[2] are most readily attributed to ingredient suppliers, not improper food handling. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/o26-11-15/index.html [2] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm

And who handles the ingredients improperly? Doesn't refrigerate them sufficiently? Uses expired ingredients? Fallible humans. Lets remove them from the equation.

Doesn't chew enough? Doesn't wash their hands before eating? Eats too much?

There's more to the equation! Robots feeding robots built by robots and programmed by robots! A clean solution for a clean planet earth!

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#12

Post by greedo »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #5
tantalor wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no human hand... clearly a health benefit That is a non sequitur. The most dangerous illness associated with fast food (poor nutrition aside) such as E. coli[1] and Hep A[2] are most readily attributed to ingredient suppliers, not improper food handling. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/o26-11-15/index.html [2] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm

And who handles the ingredients improperly? Doesn't refrigerate them sufficiently? Uses expired ingredients? Fallible humans. Lets remove them from the equation.

Robotic slaughterhouses would still have problem keeping fecal matter out of meat. The best way of preventing most food illnesses is radiating the food, but our irrational society won't go for that.

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#13

Post by bpicolo »

greedo wrote: post #12
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And who handles the ingredients improperly? Doesn't refrigerate them sufficiently? Uses expired ingredients? Fallible humans. Lets remove them from the equation.

Robotic slaughterhouses would still have problem keeping fecal matter out of meat. The best way of preventing most food illnesses is radiating the food, but our irrational society won't go for that.

Irradiation does have issues of it's own, like making things taste funky [0]

[0]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03091...

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#14

Post by opencl »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

I've been predicting robotic fast food for a decade now. And it's here! By cooking with no human hand ever coming into contact with the ingredients or utensils, clearly a health benefit is accrued. And by steam-cleaning the cooker periodically, quality is improved. I'd envisioned a somewhat different robot. I thought the ingredients could be tube-delivered like caulking guns, on a rotating 'tool carousel' so you coul…

All this does is dump the ingredients in a pot and mix them by spinning the pot. It's a hell of a long way off from making such advanced recipes as sandwiches or burritos. And at $7.50 it's rather expensive by fast food standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc8D-CnDMiE

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#15

Post by nothrabannosir »

onion2k wrote: post #7
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And who handles the ingredients improperly? Doesn't refrigerate them sufficiently? Uses expired ingredients? Fallible humans. Lets remove them from the equation.

A robot chef is programmed by a human, so the human element has not been removed.

It has been reduced from O(n) to O(1), so much easier to check.

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#16

Post by joezydeco »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

I've been predicting robotic fast food for a decade now. And it's here! By cooking with no human hand ever coming into contact with the ingredients or utensils, clearly a health benefit is accrued. And by steam-cleaning the cooker periodically, quality is improved. I'd envisioned a somewhat different robot. I thought the ingredients could be tube-delivered like caulking guns, on a rotating 'tool carousel' so you coul…

If you think labor is what keeps fast food prices high, you are mistaken.

Most of the largest chains have pretty much automated nearly everything by now that's possible given reliability and safety standards. If you look in the kitchen of any McDonald's nobody is cooking or preparing the components. They're either pre-cut, loaded into dispensers, being cooked in a self-timing temperature-controlled fryer, or being cooked on a self-timing temperature-controlled clamshell grill. If you check out a Taco Bell, they've even eliminated the cooking part. It's all made off-site in large batches and rewarmed on the assembly line. Even the beloved Chipotle has moved to retherming their components where possible.

The human labor is merely in assembly and delivery. And automating that with robots is a generation away, if at all.

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#18

Post by pbalau »

tantalor wrote: post #3
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

I've been predicting robotic fast food for a decade now. And it's here! By cooking with no human hand ever coming into contact with the ingredients or utensils, clearly a health benefit is accrued. And by steam-cleaning the cooker periodically, quality is improved. I'd envisioned a somewhat different robot. I thought the ingredients could be tube-delivered like caulking guns, on a rotating 'tool carousel' so you coul…

> no human hand... clearly a health benefit That is a non sequitur. The most dangerous illness associated with fast food (poor nutrition aside) such as E. coli[1] and Hep A[2] are most readily attributed to ingredient suppliers, not improper food handling. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/o26-11-15/index.html [2] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm

True, but with a full automatic system to convert those ingredients to food, you could add a test step, where you filter out the contaminated ingredients.

Re: Spyce Kitchen, a robotic chef built by four recent M.I.T. grads

#19

Post by dd36 »

tantalor wrote: post #3
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #2

I've been predicting robotic fast food for a decade now. And it's here! By cooking with no human hand ever coming into contact with the ingredients or utensils, clearly a health benefit is accrued. And by steam-cleaning the cooker periodically, quality is improved. I'd envisioned a somewhat different robot. I thought the ingredients could be tube-delivered like caulking guns, on a rotating 'tool carousel' so you coul…

> no human hand... clearly a health benefit That is a non sequitur. The most dangerous illness associated with fast food (poor nutrition aside) such as E. coli[1] and Hep A[2] are most readily attributed to ingredient suppliers, not improper food handling. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2015/o26-11-15/index.html [2] https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm

I was assuming he meant something like the flu. Fast food workers have awful benefits and low pay thus working while sick.
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