When Mike presses 'reheat' on his microwave. He is commanding more computing power than NASA used to land on the moon. His coffee maker is measuring water temperature to within one degree. His dishwasher is making decisions about drying cycles and measuring water. He doesn't know that he is piloting a high-tech lab in his kitchen.
In this article, we will talk about the Revolution that is happening in your kitchen that you are not aware of, then we will continue to see how your appliances are more connected than ever before, and we will finish with a sweet note about the future aspect of your kitchen in the coming years.
1. The revolution you do not see
1.1 Your coffee machine is a laboratory
Every time you make coffee for yourself at home or when you order a coffee in a coffee shop, you are living a lab experience where you are the researcher or the final tester. In our modern era, coffee machines are equipped with precision temperature sensors, programmable timing systems, and even wireless connectivity through smartphones.
Let's take 10 seconds to look at this wonderful masterpiece made by AIDEN. This is more than a simple coffee machine; it is a laboratory-grade precision in temperature control, smart brew profiles downloadable from your favorite roasters, accessible with a mobile app for a better experience.
1.2 The Microwave that's smarter than Apollo
You won't guess it, but in your kitchen, you have a powerful device that is so powerful that it could have launched Apollo. Your modern microwave is equipped with multiple sensors that allow it to detect the moisture, the weight, and the temperature inside. Some microwaves are programmed to react differently according to the type of food that is inside to program itself to give the best heating service and make the food outstanding.
Let's take the case of the Samsung MC28A5145VR Smart Oven, which has built-in smart moisture sensor that automatically adjusts cooking mode and time by detecting interior air humidity. After the microwaves, which revolution might happen to our preferred fridges?
1.3 The refrigerators that think
We went from a machine to keep our meals fresh to an incredible device that thinks and even suggests you different recipes according to the content that you have in your fridge. Nowadays, Samsung has integrated AI not only in their phones but also in their fridge. The Samsung Family Hub AI has the capacity to recognize 33 specific food items and can suggest different recipes based on what is actually in your fridge.
Another one is the LG LNXS30996D InstaView ThinQ, this marvel hosts an AI which learns your usage patterns and create personalized experiences fit to each of the users, and you can see the inside of your fridge without opening it. Now that we know that our fridges are smarter than we thought, are our dishwashers intelligent too?
1.4 Dishwashers that wash and make decisions for you
Dishwashers were meant to facilitate dish washing chore for families. But now it is doing more than washing. It washes your dishes silently thanks to incredible engineering. In addition, it washes it like a pro and dries it evenly. Take the case of the Bosch SHP78CM5N or SGE78C55UC model, which has a patented crystal dry technology that helps to transform moisture into heat, allowing it to remove the remaining water on your lovely plates and make them dry.
We did an overview of our kitchen appliances. Let's take a tour of the software part.
2. The connected kitchen
2.1 The recipe suggestion network
First of all, did you know that some people did an amazing job by collecting data about meals from everywhere in the world, their ingredients, the nutritional facts, and more. Now, AI is in the game, and it is doing a great job in analyzing your food habits. One real example can be Samsung's refrigerator that suggests different meals depending on what you have inside your fridge, which is incredible for a fridge. At this stage, we know that recipe recommendations are based on immense collected data that AI has access to. What about recognizing each ingredient of the suggested recipe? Is it even possible for a machine to know the ingredients used in a recipe from a picture?
2.2 Food recognition goes professional
There is a company that is doing an incredible job; it has a mobile app that gives you all the ingredients of the meal that you have cooked, the nutritional facts of each of the ingredients, and the overall nutritional facts from one picture only. It has a record of 1300+ meal recognition. They even have a smart kiosk that is installed in restaurants where customers can scan the food they picked, know the calories they are gonna ingest, as well as the price of the overall meal that can be paid through different payment methods. This company's name is LogMeal. Now that we know that there are some tools to recognize what is on our plate, where does the food come from exactly? Which journey did it take to reach your kitchen?
2.3 From farm to fork intelligence
Nowadays, people want to know what they have on their plates, where the ingredients are from. Are they organic? Which type of pesticides have been used to harvest them? We have tons of questions, and people are more conscious about it. Well, you are gonna be satisfied because a lot of people are working on it day and night in the Agtech industry, where farmers are using sustainable technologies and methods to produce organic fresh products. On the other hand, some people are working to track your food from farm to fork; one of the technologies used is blockchain technology. Blockchain is recognized for it's transparency, security, and reliability; it's usage is not only limited to crypto or fintech but it an applied in the food industry. IBM Food Trust is one of the leaders that has implemented it successfully, allowing thousands of distributors and consumers to know the exact journey of what they are selling for distributors and for the consumers what they are eating through different mediums.
That was a quick overview of the vast network of innovation happening, actually. As we are innovating, where will this innovation lead us in 3–5 years from now?
3. What's Next ?
3.1 Robots enter the kitchen
You won't believe it, people are being served by robots in diverse restaurants. Some companies like Bearrobotics are at the forefront of this advancement. They are building intelligent robots to take care of food serving service in restaurants.
Except that, some basic tasks like chopping, stirring, and precise timing are gonna be done by robots to accelerate restaurants' speed.
According to global stats, the food robotics market is gonna increase from $2.76 billion (2025) to $14.93 billion in 2034, which means that robots will be widely adopted in the food industry. As robots are in our kitchen door very soon, what else might happen? Will your kitchen appliances cook for you automatically?
3.2 Your appliances will cook for you
Let's imagine that you have a coffee machine with an integrated AI that is learning from your coffee drinking habits. Then, one day, it suggests a coffee, and that coffee is the one you wanted that day. Then the next day, it suggests a brand new coffee that you have not tried yet and you appreciate it. This kind of innovation is gonna happen in the future, and more of your kitchen appliances will be fully personalized according to your preferences and serve you to the maximum.
Moreover, there is 3D food printing, imagine that you want to eat a burger but you do not have any physical ingredients, while you have a 3D food printer. You just type on the printing device that I want a burger with salad and no onions, then in a few minutes it starts cooking from literally nothing and gives you the burger as you desired by magic. You are now a cooking wizard, and you have the power to cook from nothing. How are your appliances gonna surprise you? Will they anticipate your cooking patterns and be ready waiting for you?
3.3 The anticipating kitchen
Welcome to the future, your kitchen is now autonomous and learns from your preferences and patterns. Your fridge is able to contact the nearest grocery store and order the things you lack in your fridge regularly. Moreover, your oven knows your cooking habits and prepares itself in advance for the meal you are about to cook. Well, different companies are doing a great job by building a smart oven that preheats itself based on your calendar and food preferences. Like the Bosch ovens with Home Connect app, GE Cafe ovens with WiFi connectivity, and Samsung smart ovens with SmartThings integration and much more.
Wrap-up / Debrief
Briefly, we have talked about how powerful your kitchen appliances are, built with incredible senses that make them super-devices. Moreover, we have shown the backbone of the innovation we are seeing, actually by showcasing different use cases. Finally, we just hypothesized about some future trends that may arise, and this future is closer than you would think.
Next time you use your microwave, notice how many sensors and automated systems are working behind that simple reheat button. You are commending more technology than most people realize.
See you on Monday for an episode about AI usage in sports.
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