Given how easy it is to learn how to cook in the age of the Internet, it's surprising how many people lack basic culinary skills. One Chinese man that fell into this category was constantly criticized by his wife, and was getting tired of it. Instead of just learning how to cook for virtually no cost, he spent eight years inventing a smart robot cooker that could do the work for him.
(Chinese man tired of wife’s complaining invents smart robot cooker) The Joke Hamster - https://t.co/vcYb7stuti pic.twitter.com/EvEdyJsR2W
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According to CGTN, the new tech just debuted at the China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair, where it could crank out custom-made dishes in 3-4 minutes. The robot can customize the amount of oil, chili, salt, sugar, and vinegar added to raw ingredients via an interface. You can add whichever protein/veg you want into it, and it'll cook the dish in no time at all. It's also got an automatic cleaning system, so there's no need to wash up after it's done making your lunch.
The bot is meant to help people who can't cook whip up dishes, but seems to be tailored more to office spaces or markets than the individual home. It costs roughly 10,000 yuan (just under $1,600 US) to install, with a one yuan ($0.16 USD) cost for each meal cooked. For a high-tech, custom recipe machine that cooks in little time at all, that's pretty cheap.
He Qing, the smart cooking robot's inventor, is a catering company CEO that has since used the machine to get his wife to stop blasting his ineptitude in the kitchen. She is reportedly so impressed with the robot that she hasn't complained since.
Just goes to show that even an unwillingness to learn a new skill can be the inspiration for some revolutionary inventions.
