Late last year, we covered Fungineering’s DIY cooking robot. It was an interesting idea: a kind of single-pot operation with actuated mechanisms to toss in ingredients and then stir them. But it didn’t actually work very well and was more amusing than anything else. It seemed like the kind of silly video a YouTuber makes before moving on to another project. But to our surprise, Fungineering has been hard at work improving the design to sort out many of its issues. In his newest video, he presents the new and improved robotic chef, fresh out of culinary school.
The original robot had three distinct types of mechanisms: bulk ingredient dumping (for large things, like chopped vegetables), pot stirring, and spice dispensing. All of those things kind of worked, but not well. That robot couldn’t even get through an entire meal without some assistance.
The new robot improves upon those things, starting with a revised mechanism for dumping the bulk ingredients. Those still sit in containers around the pot, but now those containers flip and push forward at the same time. The 3D-printed mechanism to do that is quite clever, because it only needs a single motor to work. There are also pumps for water and cooking oil.
Next up was dispensing spices. The original system was actually pretty darn innovative, as it used vibrations to shake out the spices and a rotating carousel system to put the appropriate spice container over a chute that led to the pot. But though it was innovative, it wasn’t reliable. The new spice dispenser features a much more trustworthy auger with a screw for each spice container to churn out even the most stubborn ground herbs. There was still an issue with a lack of “flow,” which caused clumping. So, Fungineering included a vibration motor on this spice dispenser, too.
Except that wasn’t quite enough, either. The spices would still clump up instead of pouring smoothly. The cumin, in particular, experienced that issue, so Fungineering added a solenoid to tap that container like a human chef would.
The original stirrer worked well enough, so Fungineering didn’t make any major changes to that. It is a simple robot arm that only holds a spatula, so there isn’t much to go wrong.
Fungineering’s efforts were, ultimately, worthwhile. The robotic chef was able to cook a full meal without any human intervention, making it a success. But Fungineering may not be done quite yet, so keep an eye out for future updates.
