Robotic Kitchen Automation Levels | Hacker News Reader

Robotic Kitchen Automation Levels

lorenzopieri.com

19 pointslorepieri20 comments

> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas.

Sounds dystopian. Hustle and bustle of life aside, physically cooking things can be enjoyable. On the other hand, when I cook "from scratch", I'm buying conveniently packaged ingredients (I don't grow or grind my own flour for example), so maybe I'm happy with my current level of effort from simple familiarity.

Counter example: i tried to get a kitchenless apartment but couldn't get one that wasnt TINY so it just wasn't worth it. But i totaly would get one if i could save some money (to help pay for eating out more) and could re-use that space for other things.

I doubt apartments with kitchens would cease to exist although they would probably cost more than those without

Most people don't like to cook or don't care enough to do it themselves. The average household spends an inordinate amount on takeout and that figure will only grow [1]. One could argue 'dark kitchens' are dystopian... food prepared by chefs emulating the menus of restaurants with which they have no affiliation. This has become common in cities all over the world. Deliveroo's dark kitchen network started off using recycled shipping containers [2]. Those who have to prepare meals for multiple mouths (aka parents) eventually get burnt out by cooking.

I love cooking, but I don't see this as dystopic; the kitchen is ripe for technological revolution, and I welcome the democratization of good and (hopefully) healthy food.

[1] https://pos.toasttab.com/blog/on-the-line/why-more-people-ar... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-d...

> The average household spends an inordinate amount on takeout and that figure will only grow [1].

Is it really inordinate? From the source you cited:

> According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household spent an average of $3,459 on takeout, in-restaurant dining, and fast food meals in 2018

That's $288 a month. The average household is 2.5 people, so that's $115 per person per month or $3.79 per day. Assuming 3 meals a day, that would come to somewhere in the ballpark of 10-20% of their meals.

Personally, I'm at $133.96 for this month, from 15 fast food or take-out purchases (14 meals, one snack from the convenience store at the gas station while getting gas). My typical month is generally one Jimmy John's sub and cookie a week, one McDonalds burger and free fries (every Friday if ordered through the app) a week, a Jersey Mike's sub and cookie 3 times a month, and a McDonalds breakfast once a week, with maybe the odd Wendy's or Burger King or Arby's tossed in once or twice a month instead of one of the sub places. That seems rather modest to me.

I'm currently living in a nice house, and have previously lived in a nice apartment. I've lived in places where you needed a car to live, and in places where using a car was a huge hassle compared to the alternatives.

There is far more variability in "good living" than most people realize. Cooking "as a pleasant activity" is a nice luxury to have, and I currently do a fair bit of it, but I'd gladly give it up for other luxuries.

Perhaps some centuries ago it was dystopian to imagine living in a house without farming fields or some livestock nearby.

I was imagining having a fully automated kitchen in my apartment, but just like autonomous cars, ownership doesn't make sense. Add to customizations of also choosing the ingredients (local vs global, organic, etc), why bother to go shopping and learning to cook. Like driving, there would still be people that have kitchens at home for which cooking is a hobby. It just wouldn't be necessary for the majority of the population who just want "home cooked meals" without the work or waste of doing it from home.

Would a Level 5 automated bar be easier?

What level do we have with coffee? Those machines must be level 4 now.

Those levels seem pretty vague to me... but yeah, coffee has become quite automated, possibly among the most-automated. "Dump in green coffee beans" -> "get brewed coffee" with basically a single button press is a thing you can buy for your house, and e.g. Starbucks' espresso machines do practically everything except pour the milk and coffee together at the end (... level 3? Humans pump the syrup and pour the end result together and that's practically it).

And there already are machines that will put the milk in too. I'm not a fan of how they come out but you can pretty much automate a latte now.

I am not sure how to make out of this article. Level 4 sounds like most food factories, from producing breads, cookies, ice creams, instant noodles, to frozen pizza. Where does the 2020s timeline come from?

He's talking about kitchens, versatile spaces in homes in which almost any kind of food can be prepared.

The problem is that sometimes I would love a level five automated kitchen that does everything for me. Other times, I want a level zero automated kitchen, where I can enjoy the process of cooking. My guess is, I'd get one or the other, but never both. If I had to choose only one, I'd go with the kitchen I have, which doesn't take any control away from me, and probably doesn't have any hidden gotchas like subscription fees and constant surveillance of my life in order to ensure my refrigerator knows when to order more milk.

>> Coupled with an increase in food delivery efficiency, kitchenless flats could become the norm in densely populated areas.

I remember Silicon Valley managed to sell the vision of "Cloud Kitchen" to VC.

As someone who has some experience with Restaurants I am extremely skeptical of LV 5 Robotic Kitchen. For the same reason why Foxconn Robot still cant replace human workers. I do imagine it may work in a larger scale Tesla like manufacturing operation.

https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/1027/cruisin...

Yeah but you still have to chew the food yourself ... not 100% automated.

Soylent is working on this

Level 6: The robot is also eating the food for you. :)

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