Personal Food Factory Mixes, Measures, Cuts and Cooks

By Tracy Staedter

Aug. 04, 2010 -- Cooking is all about mixing and, oftentimes, experimentation. It's a process that dates back thousands of years, and in that time, has seen only incremental advances in innovation.

But a food factory concept from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab could bring the digital age into the kitchen.

Marcelo Coelho, a PhD candidate at the Institute, and Amit Zoran, a graduate student and researcher now working in the Smart Cities group, have come up with three concept designs and one prototype as part of their Cornucopia project -- a Digital Fabricator, a Chocolate Mixer, a Robotic Chef and a Virtuoso Mixer. Each are designed to chemically and physically transform food with the push of a button.

"The potential for experimentation and creation in cooking is almost limitless," Coelho told Discovery News.

All images: Amit Zoran, unless otherwise indicated

Digital Fabricator

Think of this device as a food printer. However, instead of printing colorful images of tasty dishes, it actually lays down the ingredients in a three-dimensional serving.

An array of food canisters store ingredients. A touch-screen and web capability allow a cook to control the design of each meal. Punch in your favorite dish and press "print." The ingredients are piped into a mixer and an extruder head deposits the meal, which is then heated or cooled in the Fabricator’s chamber.

"I think desserts are the killer app for a machine like the digital fabricator," said Coelho.

Image: Jamie Zigelbaum

Chocolate Mixer

Because desserts seem like an appropriate option for the Digital Fabricator, Coelho designed a mixer that's based on the fabricator, but is meant to test the different extrusion valves. Sauces, nuts and other varieties of sweets fill the canisters, which can be programmed to release their contents in any order and in any quantity. Yum.

Robotic Chef

Robots are making their way into operating rooms, why not the kitchen? This one is equipped with a variety of interchangeable tools, such as drill bits, spice injection syringes and a lower-power laser. The robot can be programmed to cut, cook and spice the food in a precise manner.

By focusing the laser at different depths, a chef could cook a steak so that the inside was well-done, while the outside was rare, said Coelho.

"Or maybe all the fat could be burnt, while the rest of the steak remains intact. Or burning a specific grid pattern could give you an evolving texture, so the first bite has an entirely different consistency and taste from the last one," he said.

Virtuoso Mixer

This contraption is the Mother of All Mixers! It's comprised of three rotating carousels, each one stacked on top of the other, and is meant as a way to efficiently mix multiple ingredients in limitless combinations.

The top layer has eight containers outfitted with weight scales, as well as temperature and humidity sensors. The middle layer has eight containers able to crush and mix ingredients. In the lower layer, the ingredients are mixed and deposited. Heating and cooling elements maintain the proper temperature and a glass cover can be used to close off the food for baking.

"I think the interesting property of a machine like is the ability to allow for quick experimentation, trying new ideas, rather than tweaking old ones, which have already been tested through years of gastronomical and cultural experience," said Coelho, who doesn't consider himself a great cook, but has wonderful memories of his grandparents' Portuguese restaurant in his home town of Campinas, Brazil.

Coelho hopes that his new approach to cooking will change the way people eat and think about food.

"I hope that if these machines become reality one day, people will become more engaged with what they eat. Rather than eating microwaveable food of unknown provenance and with unknown ingredients, we will start to know exactly what we are eating and have a say on how it is prepared," he said.

Bon appetit.