Mechatronics System as the Future of Cooking at Home

Do you get up in the morning and don't feel like making breakfast? One of the solutions is food delivery service, which leaves your takeout order outside of your front door. Other solution is a private chef who is responsible for shopping for food, menu planning, preparing and cooking meals for you. But if you love mechatronics systems, your solution is a mechatronic kitchen. It allows you to save time, free up your day from routine cooking, plan and adapt your menu according to different diets and lifestyles.

The first Moley Robotics mechatronic kitchen prototype was launched at the Hannover Messe in 2015. Now, the kitchen is a fully automated kitchen unit. In addition to cabinets it include robotic arms and hands, a recipe recording system, a connected GUI screen with access to a library of recipes. The full set of kitchen appliances and equipment are optimized for both for robot and human use. 

The robotic apparatus comprises two highly complex robotic hands and different types of sensor that are integrated in high-precise and light weight frame structure. They have the ability to replicate the movements of a human hand, while the robotic chef is capable of recreating the skills of human chefs such as learning new recipes.

Instructions for robot are prepared using large touchscreen and guided user interface. You can prepare recipes and define the ingredients. When you finished, you are ready to sit back and leave the work to the robot. Mechatronic hands will operate appliances, open drawers, find utensils and of course achieve the goal - prepare your food.

The five-finger robotic hand was developed in collaboration with German robotic company SCHUNK. The sensors at the end of the arms allow to measure the pressure on the hand from different directions. It ensures the system to hold kitchen accessories and ingredients in the hand without risk of damage. The anthropomorphic hand can operate appliances and use pre-contained ingredients in the same way that a person would. Beyond the main task of cooking, robot also tidy up kitchen surfaces. Installed adaptive software, it can also learn to use new pieces of equipment.

Developed in collaboration with world-leading German robotic company SCHUNK, Moley’s exclusive hand partner, the anthropomorphic hand can operate appliances and use pre-contained ingredients in the same way that a person would. That means it can use cookware and utensils, operate touchscreen appliances, and tidy up kitchen surfaces when it’s finished. Meanwhile, thanks to its adaptive operating system, it can also learn to use new pieces of equipment as well.

The robotic hand cooperate with automated cookware storage the same as CNC machine retrieves tools. Various sensors allow the robot to find all the appliance.

Each item has its own dedicated location, providing easy access to cookware on your command. The cookware slides out automatically from the storage when required, and can be used by both robot and humans. Smart sensors detect which kitchen cookware is in the storage in real time, advising you on what to use in case you are cooking yourself. To be more convenient for a human, cookware storage can be pulled out frontally, giving you full access to the cookware.

 Take a look how Moley Robotic Kitchen cooks paella: