In 50 years, could robot replace chef?

Answer 1

Fun question.

Without a doubt robots will be in our kitchens in a very big way. In fact they already are. Rice cookers, bread machines and coffee makers are already in our home kitchens. All of them are robots. They respond to stimulii, (mostly time & temperature) and react. That's meets the definition a robot.

Fast food restaurants have used robotic cooks for years. A robot cooks Micky D's fries. It controls the time and temperature and determines when the fries are cooked. The minimum wage worker does what the robot chef tells it to do. (Take fries out. Change my oil, etc.)

Robots are already chopping and dicing vegetables and with precision. Campbell Soup doesn't have rows of workers doing this repetitve task. Robots do it.

Robots scan eggs, vegetables, coffee beans and such for imperfections.

Will robots be able to carry out far more sophisticated roles in the kitchen of the future? Again I say yes. In many cases they will be able to outperform humans.

Take the task of making the perfect steak to a customer's satisfaction. The customer asks for it to be medium rare. Ask yourself how many times you have requested meat cooked to a certain doneness and not gotten it back that way.

A robotic cook would determine the precise weight and internal temp of the meat before cooking, place the meat on the grill knowing the exact temperature of the grill and monitor that temp throughout the cooking process. The robot would calulate, based on the data, how long the meat would need on the grill. It would know exactly when to turn the meat over and remove it for resting time. It of course will be monitoring the internal and external temps of the meat throughout the entire process.

Additionally, the robot would recognize the appropriate level of carmelization through sensors and could even detect certain aromatic volitiles (airport bomb sniffing technology) if it were making a sauce to accompany the steak.

Moreover the robot could be designed to handle any quantity needed. This capability is not even something for the distant future, for most part, it could be done today. It would just be very expensive.

Cost of equipment is the biggest factor for not implementing something like this right now. That will change. Businesses will be attracted to the idea of replacing a couple of fallible humans with a never tiring, never showing up sick or otherwise less than full capacity, never stealing machine. When the cost of installing such equipment becomes financially advantageous, it will happen in a big way.

Machines will become ever more sophisticated, sensitive, and adaptive. When the technology is ripe, there will be a market for it. I can foresee equipment that can fully cook any recipe that someone wants it to make. These machines could be as common as microwave ovens and coffee makers are today.

It may not replace the human factor in the near future, but to think that they won't play an ever more integral role in our kitchens is to ignore the obvious. It is in our future. We can loathe it or love it, but it's coming however we feel about it.

Answer 2

Highly unlikely, robots are able to do repetetive tasks, but they sure cannot saute, chop, dice, fricasee, or tell when to turn something, and if they do ever take the place of a chef, you might want to think about the "replicator stations" that were used in the TV Series Star Trek, The Next Generation.......but never, ever will a robot replace the "humanness" of preparing something by a person......In a sense, robots already have replaced some chefs, and they're called Vending Machines......unless you want to eat that crap, my guess is that No, robots will not be replacing us in a lot of life's applications............Enjoy!!!

Christopher

Answer 3

robots replace chefs now. They just make crappy food. The problem with food is that each thing you cook is imperfect from another. One piece of fish or meat or even vegetables witll differ in texture size or shape. I suppose a robot could be programmed in every variation of food and to adapt to each individul piece, but it would be an expensive robot. And they can just pay some donkey to make a superior product for 10 bucks an hour. Simple things are cooked by robots all the time. Very simple robots, rice cooker? not technically a robot, but it makes damn fine rice. Also robots can't really inovate new styles or tastes. They can only do what we tell them to do. Unless of course we're using terminator rules, in which case I'm seriously doubting they will be cooking for us.

Answer 4

Machines are capable of churning out "perfect" food at a breakneck pace, if made well. Therefore, machines would be perfect for fast food restaurants, since the food they churn out would be extremely sanitary, and well, "perfect". It would also save LOTS of money.

But even if you had robots to do all the actual process of "cooking", you will would still need chefs to actually create and perfect the recipes in the first place. Robots will never truly replace top chefs, but they can surely replace the manual labor of mass-produced assembly-line style food.

Answer 5

i don't even want to THINK about that!! i've devoted my entire life and career and sacrificed way too much to have it all be replaced by a damn macheine!!

no, i don't think that could ever really happen. maybe in fast food chain restaurants but never in real kitchens that serve real food. unless we do a complete 180 and start dehydrating all of our foods (like in back to the future 2) and then we're all screwed!!

Answer 6

Not in any kitchen I'll eat food from!

Answer 7

I hope so!

I am tired of cooking.

Answer 8

Not this one!!!!!