“Hello, I’m the Snackbot”

In these globally cash-strapped times it seems odd to entertain the thought of paying $100,000 for a pair of chef-bots to prepare you that mac n cheese you crave at the end of a long day, but having your very own Rosie The Robot might not be too far off.

"Dr. Heather Knight, a roboticist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that the industry is trying to change “the perception of robots.”... (P)articularly in the West, there’s this whole Frankenstein thing that if we try to make something in the image of man, to make a new creature, we’re stealing the role of God, and it’s going to turn out wrong because that’s not our role,” she said. “So how do you change this perception that robots are going to be way too intelligent and destroy us? One of the fastest ways to people’s hearts is food, right?"

For many, Food=Love, and by manufacturing nourishment an object is rendered trustworthy. In terms of marketing it is a clever approach. Trust in technology, though not necessarily boundless, is often blind until some sort of tacitly assumed trust is breached. I imagine that for the Western market branding will eventually be used to sell these robots. With bundled preparation and taste technologies consumers would be given a sense of inherent familiarity with the robots - something along the lines of a Subway or McDonalds-bot in your kitchen. Or perhaps more realistically, robots replacing human food preparers working the line at your local fast food outlet itself.

"But the real obstacle to a world full of mechanized sous-chefs and simulated rage-filled robo-Gordon Ramsays may be something much harder to fake: none of these robots can taste.

Keizo Shimamoto, who writes a blog on ramen noodles and has eaten at Famen, the two-robot Japanese restaurant, said that the establishment was “kind of dead” when he ate there last year. Though the owner said that people do taste the food, according to Mr. Shimamoto, “It was a little disappointing."

And there is the rub. For many current real-world applications robotics are not up to the task - someone has to taste the broth and correct the seasoning. With unemployment at an all time high I'm sure this technology will have to sit on the sidelines, though I will be watching carefully to see if anyone at the In N Out looks like an android next time I want some fries.

(NYT)