The robot chef learns to taste what we taste

When consuming a bite of food, there are different taste phases. And that’s important information for a robot aspiring to a career as a chef.

The robot in this study had already learned how to make tasty omelets based on feedback from a test panel of hungry people. They then taught the robot to “taste” a simple dish of scrambled eggs with tomato at different stages of the chewing process. A bit like a chef who tastes what he prepares while cooking. And also taking into account that a bite of food can go through different taste phases when chewing.

In this case, the robot used a simple sensor to measure salinity only. And this in different phases of the mastication process, which was imitated simply by throwing everything into a blender. This resulted in dishes that were better appreciated by restaurant diners.

The researchers’ goal was to create the best taste model possible – now of a dish, but possibly of as many as possible – to ensure that, if food preparation ever takes an automatic twist, the robot chef is not below average. to cook.

Read more: Taste of the future: robot chef learns to “taste as you go”†