Picking out individual ingredients in a dish can be a fun yet challenging part of enjoying a meal. While professional chefs and food scientists spend years honing their palates, a robot may soon be able to join in thanks to an AI-powered robotic taster developed by researchers at Penn State. Combining artificial intelligence with an electronic tongue, this advanced system can detect subtle differences in flavor and freshness that even human senses might miss.

In a recently published paper, the research team outlines how this AI “brain” works with an electronic tongue to analyze food at a molecular level. The robotic taster can distinguish minute variations in a cup of milk’s water content, identify the blend of beans in a cup of coffee, and even detect early signs of rot in fruit juice—well before human senses could.

While electronic devices capable of identifying components in mixtures aren’t new—machines have long been able to measure factors like acidity and temperature—the researchers have taken things further. Their AI system simulates how a human tongue, nose, and brain interpret taste, going beyond basic measurements. Using advanced ISFET sensors (graphene-based ion-sensitive field-effect transistors), the electronic tongue can analyze a variety of complex chemicals simultaneously, without needing different sensors for each element.

These sensors generate an immense amount of data, and while standard processors might take a while to process it, the information alone wouldn’t reveal much about the freshness of orange juice or how diluted milk is. To solve this, the researchers turned to AI, creating a neural network that mimics how humans process taste. After being trained on how different chemicals affect the electronic tongue, the AI successfully identified various types of soda and juice freshness with over 80% accuracy.

Then, when the AI was allowed to develop its own methods for analyzing the data, its accuracy jumped to an impressive 95%, making almost no mistakes. The combination of advanced sensors and AI allowed the system to detect subtle differences in food that humans would otherwise miss—like identifying milk that isn’t spoiled yet but soon will be.

While food testing for freshness and purity is an obvious application, the potential of an AI-powered taster goes far beyond the kitchen. Taste is fundamentally a way of identifying chemicals, which means this technology could be useful in various industries. It could help monitor chemical purity in factories or even assist in medical diagnostics, identifying biomarkers of disease or subtle changes in health.

Though still in the early stages of development, this AI-powered electronic tongue could revolutionize how we evaluate food quality and potentially open new doors in industrial and medical applications. The future of taste might be a lot smarter than we ever imagined.

By Impact Lab