Intelligent Spoon and Food Taster Technology for the Kitchen

After a long day at the office, you might have to go to the kitchen and prepare a meal for the family. A lot could have taken place in the office and over the course of the entire day. Due to this, preparing food in the kitchen without a single complain is very rare. While junior might complain the soup lacks enough salt, little Winnie could hurt your feelings by reporting the pie needs some flavor. At that moment, you are bound to feel like you are the worst cook who has ever owned a kitchen.  

Intelligent Spoon Prototype

While the problem is not reserved for the few lacking in culinary intelligence, an intelligent spoon can be what you need. If you can get a spoon crucial in the mixing process making use of sensors to measure the quality of food, such as acidity, it is obvious adventures in the kitchen would be redefined. The spoon is an automated kitchen gadget developed in 2006 by two MIT students working in the famous Counter Intelligence Lab where gadgets to make your time in the kitchen easier and memorable are made. The idea behind this development is the smart technology development that works by automating devices and appliances with computers to have most of the work eliminated and the thought process behind it vanished.  

Lenardo Bonnani and Connie Cheng’s kitchen tool could help make great cooks out of the big number of people daft in culinary prowess. The big intelligent spoon tastes food in a different sense through an evaluation of four main areas, namely, temperature, salinity, viscosity and pH. The smart spoon prototype pH evaluation makes sure the acidity is all right for the sake of pickling recipes and salad dressings. In terms of temperature, the intelligent spoon makes sure the recipes are kept in the right temperature so that all the ingredients mix properly. In the case of liquid foods such as soup and sauce, the right thickness or viscosity is very important. The smart kitchen gadget also measures the rate of salinity so that a dish is not over-salted. Sodium in the case of salinity is what is measured. 

The spoon is made up of complete plastic with sensors within made up of gold, aluminum and zinc. After touching food, the sensors come alive to measure the temperature of the concoction, viscosity, salinity and acidity. If the intelligent plastic spoon is connected with a cord to a PC, data from the spoon is analyzed and feedback given. The smart spoon is still at the prototype stage but the measurement seemingly is done on the different factors and the recipes already in the database helps come up with a suggestion. Depending on what is being prepared, the spoon intelligently makes suggestions, for example some grams of baking soda or a spoonful of salt to have all the essential levels of acidity, salinity, temperature and viscosity balanced for culinary satisfaction. 

The students in the Lab are also working on other kitchen gadgets such as Talking Trivet, able to detect synthetic recipes and meal temperature and Graphic Interface that suggests a menu based on description of food cravings, for example refreshing or comforting.

Image Credit: Intelligent Spoon