(Las Vegas) Chef-like robots, AI-controlled appliances and other high-tech kitchen gadgets hold the promise that humans will no longer need to cook – or make drinks – for themselves.
There was a lot of news in the world of food and drink at CES 2024, the multi-day trade event hosted by the Consumer Technology Association. Exhibits included a Keurig-like cocktail mixer and a robot barista whose movements are meant to mimic a human making a vanilla latte.
Here are some of the latest technologies transforming the way meals are prepared, cooked and delivered.
Tech startup Chef AI unveils what it calls a “real air fryer that works with just the touch of a finger.”
Unlike the air fryer you might have on your kitchen counter right now, Chef AI’s iteration of the popular appliance doesn’t require any settings changes. You simply place food in the air fryer, press start, and it uses artificial intelligence to detect the type of food it’s cooking, says company CEO Dean Khormaei.
He said the air fryer would turn even the worst cooks into chefs.
The Chef AI device will be available in the US in September for $250.
What’s the secret to a perfect dirty martini? Don’t worry, Bartesian’s cocktail mixing device takes the guesswork out of the bartender.
The latest iteration of Bartesian, the Prime, can hold up to four different types of spirits. It costs $369 and will be available later this year.
It involves using a small touchscreen on the device to choose from 60 recipes, dropping a cocktail pod into the machine, and within seconds you have a premium cocktail on ice.
If you prefer a homemade beer, the new automated brewing machine from iGulu allows you to make your own beer: a lager, an amber lager or a wheat beer. It simply involves pouring a pre-mixed recipe into the keg of the machine, adding water and scanning the sticker that comes with the beer mixture. In nine to 13 days, you get a gallon of homemade beer.
Artly Coffee’s robot barista mimics the way a human behind the counter at their favorite coffee shop might prepare their usual order.
“What we’re really trying to do is preserve the craftsmanship of fine coffee,” said Alec Roig, hardware designer for the Seattle-based tech startup that now operates out of 10 locations in the Northwest. Pacific and New York.
Roig said the company’s permanent barista, who is behind all of Artly’s coffee recipes, was connected to sensors that recorded his movements as he prepared each recipe, from dosing from the coffee in the filter to the milk froth and the art of serving the latte.
