Flippy’s Future: Can Robots Revolutionize Fast-Food Kitchens?

Inside Miso Robotics’ lab in downtown Pasadena, a collection of robots that once seemed like science fiction come to life lines the workbenches. Among them are Sippy, Chippy, and Drippy—robots designed to handle various kitchen tasks. But it’s Flippy, the latest innovation, that steals the spotlight. This robotic arm, designed to fry French fries and chicken nuggets at lightning speed, could change the future of fast food.

With the restaurant industry facing rising labor costs, including increases in minimum wage, Miso Robotics is betting big on automation. Fast-food chains, burdened by higher wages and employee turnover, are increasingly looking for ways to cut costs, streamline operations, and improve consistency. Flippy, which can process more than 100 baskets of fries per hour, is at the heart of this push. Compared to the roughly 70 baskets an average employee can manage in the same time, Flippy is not just faster—it’s also safer, sparing workers from the dangers of hot oil and grease slips.

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South Korean Scientists Revolutionize Lab-Grown Meat with Breakthrough in Flavor

In a significant step forward for sustainable food sources, researchers in South Korea have developed a new method to make lab-grown meat taste like the real deal. Despite its initial appearance as a transparent, bubble gum pink disc, this innovation has the potential to transform the meat industry.

Lab-grown meat, also known as cultured or cell-based meat, is an emerging alternative to conventional meat, offering the same nutritional benefits and sensory experience without the associated carbon footprint. This meat is created by cultivating animal cells in a lab on 3D structures called “scaffolds,” allowing the cells to multiply without the need for traditional animal farming.

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Meaty Rice: An Eco-Friendly Protein Solution for the Future

From preventing famines to feeding astronauts in space, team leader and professor Hong Jin-kee believes his innovative “meaty rice” could provide an eco-friendly, ethical way for people to obtain their protein. This novel dish, which resembles a regular bowl of rice but has a pink hue and a faint buttery aroma, is made with beef muscle and fat cell cultures.

“No animals were harmed in the creation of this dish,” said Hong of Seoul’s Yonsei University. Using cultured meat, “we can obtain animal protein without the slaughter of livestock,” he told AFP. This aligns with a global trend towards meat alternatives, driven by ethical concerns over industrial livestock rearing and the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions from animal farming.

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Seergrills Unveils AI-Powered Perfecta Grill at CES 2024

CES has evolved into a grilling showcase, with companies continuously infusing tech into outdoor cooking experiences. Among them, UK-based startup Seergrills has brought AI innovation to your patio with its flagship model, the Perfecta, capable of cooking a one-inch-thick ribeye steak in just 90 seconds. According to the company, this grill cooks food approximately 10 times faster than traditional methods.

The Perfecta, resembling a see-through countertop oven, features dual vertical infrared burners inside that simultaneously cook both sides of the food, expediting the process and eliminating the need for flipping. Seergrills boasts that these burners can reach temperatures of up to 1,652 degrees Fahrenheit, ensuring crispy edges through 360-degree heating. The grill incorporates an AI chef that takes into account desired doneness and sear level, calculating the optimal cooking time and temperature based on the type of food being prepared. Sensors detect the thickness of items like steak and chicken, preventing overcooking or undercooking, and the burners adjust their proximity to the food as necessary throughout the cooking process. Seergrills dubs this intelligent setup “NeuralFire,” equipped with a quad-core processor and various sensors for collecting cooking data.

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George de Hevesy: From Cafeteria Chemistry to Pioneering Radioactive Tracers

Each October, the Nobel Prizes celebrate remarkable scientific achievements, some of which have their origins in unconventional places. In the case of George de Hevesy, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1943 for his groundbreaking work on radioactive tracers, that unconventional place was a boarding house cafeteria in Manchester, U.K., in 1911.

De Hevesy’s Cafeteria Experiment

George de Hevesy had a hunch that the boarding house cafeteria staff was reusing leftovers from previous meals, as the daily soup seemed to contain the same ingredients as the day before. To test his theory, he used a small amount of radioactive material in his leftover meat. A few days later, armed with an electroscope, he measured the radioactivity in the prepared food. When he showed the results to his landlady, who was unwittingly serving recycled food, she exclaimed, “this is magic.” In reality, it was the inception of the first successful radioactive tracer experiment.

Revolutionizing Science with Radioactive Tracers

Fast forward to today, where we, a team of chemists and physicists at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, continue to build upon de Hevesy’s early research. His work has revolutionized the way modern scientists use radioactive materials, leading to numerous scientific and medical advances.

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Samsung Unveils Samsung Food: A Cutting-Edge Food Integration Platform

Samsung is set to unveil its highly anticipated food integration platform, Samsung Food, at IFA 2023. This annual trade fair, the largest of its kind in Europe, focuses on consumer electronics and home appliances and will take place in Berlin from September 1st to September 5th.

Samsung Food is a revolutionary platform that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to offer users a personalized food experience. It boasts a wide range of capabilities, including meal planning, food preparation assistance, recipe searching, cooking guidance, and content sharing.

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Coca-Cola’s AI-Created Y3000 Zero Sugar Drink: A Taste of the Future

Coca-Cola has unveiled the world’s first soda drink crafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI). The limited-edition Y3000 Zero Sugar, launched this month, offers a glimpse of what the future might taste like, according to the company. It’s the result of a collaborative effort, combining “human intelligence and AI” to create a beverage that embodies Coca-Cola’s vision of tomorrow.

The Creative Process

To bring this innovative drink to life, Coca-Cola solicited input from fans worldwide to understand what a futuristic beverage should taste like. AI played a pivotal role in developing flavor profiles and designing the product’s external packaging, including the logo and text script. Each Y3000 can boasts a QR code that, when scanned, provides customers with a sneak peek into the world of the year 3,000. This allows access to the Coca-Cola Creations Hub, where users can apply custom Y3000 AI Cam filters to their photos.

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Bioavailability of Essential Amino Acids Varies between Animal-Based and Plant-Based Proteins, Purdue Study Reveals

The consumption of equivalent ounce-equivalent portions of animal-based and plant-based protein foods, as outlined in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), yields varying levels of essential amino acid bioavailability in both young and older adults, according to recent research by Purdue University scientists. The quality of protein derived from two-ounce-equivalent (oz-eq) portions of animal-based and plant-based sources significantly affects the body’s ability to utilize amino acids for muscle and overall protein synthesis.

While DGAs emphasize diverse protein intake based on ounce-equivalent portions with similar nutritional content, the basis for deeming these protein foods “equivalent” remains unclear. Dr. Wayne Campbell, the study’s primary investigator and a professor in the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University, highlights the disparities in energy, nutrient content, and protein quality among protein foods. The study sought to examine how consuming two oz-eq portions of animal-based and plant-based protein foods as part of a mixed meal impacts essential amino acid (EAA) bioavailability for protein building.

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Patent Awarded to Cornell Professor for Breakthrough ‘Instant Ice Cream’ Machine

Syed Rizvi, a renowned food science engineer and professor at Cornell University, has recently secured a patent for his revolutionary ‘instant ice cream’ machine. This innovative device can transform an ice cream mix into the delectable frozen dessert in a mere three seconds, promising a tantalizing culinary experience that defies traditional expectations.

Traditionally, the process of creating ice cream involves the flow of a dairy-based mixture through a heat-exchanging barrel, where blades scrape ice crystals into formation. Rizvi’s groundbreaking approach, however, takes a divergent path. The heart of the method involves the utilization of highly pressurized carbon dioxide, which flows over a specialized nozzle. This nozzle generates a vacuum effect that draws in the liquid ice cream, initiating a rapid transformation.

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Advancing Cultured Meat: Scientists Achieve Breakthrough in Mass Production of Lab-Grown Fat Tissue

In a significant step forward for the cultured meat industry, scientists have successfully achieved large-scale production of lab-grown adipose tissue that closely mimics the texture and composition of naturally derived animal fats. The groundbreaking findings, recently published in the journal eLife, offer promising prospects for the creation of cell-cultured meat with enhanced taste and texture, closely resembling traditional meat.

Cultivated meat has been garnering attention as various startup companies worldwide delve into the development of cell-grown chicken, beef, pork, and fish. However, most of these endeavors are still in early stages, not yet ready for large-scale production, and only a few have received commercial approval. The existing products mainly consist of unstructured mixtures of cells, lacking the texture found in real meat, which is created by muscle fibers, connective tissue, and fat—the latter being a crucial factor contributing to meat’s flavor.

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Wendy’s Set to Test Underground Robot System for Lightning-Fast Food Delivery to Cars

Wendy’s Co. has joined forces with hyperlogistics company Pipedream to initiate a pilot program for a groundbreaking food delivery system that promises to bring orders to designated parking spots within seconds, the fast-food chain announced on Wednesday.

Recognizing the importance of speedy and accurate service in ensuring customer satisfaction, Deepak Ajmani, Wendy’s U.S. chief operations officer, expressed the company’s commitment to enhancing the ordering experience.

Under the partnership with Pipedream, Wendy’s will implement the Instant Pickup system, which leverages an underground autonomous robot network to transport meals from the kitchen to an exterior portal. This innovative solution allows customers who place online orders to conveniently receive their food without leaving their vehicles.

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Israeli Company’s Lab-Grown Meat Set to Hit Market by 2025

One step closer to commercialized lab-grown meat.

Israeli food-tech company Aleph Farms is set to release its lab-grown meat products to consumers by 2025, according to CEO Didier Toubia. Aleph Farms has created a proprietary platform for growing meat directly from animal cells, without the need to raise or slaughter animals. The company says its technology can produce the same quality of meat found in traditional agriculture while using fewer resources and causing less harm to the environment.

Toubia believes the company’s products will help address the increasing demand for meat while also reducing the environmental impact of livestock farming. “We see a growing demand for meat, with the world’s population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050,” he said. “We need to find a way to feed all these people without harming the planet. Our meat offers a sustainable solution that is both healthy and delicious.”

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