The smart kitchen made headlines a few years ago when everyone thought that the IoT was going to take over the world. Since then, the technology media has been a little quieter on the subject, but that doesn’t mean that companies have given up on the idea. On the contrary - there are now more smart kitchen devices on the market than ever before.
What’s more, they are becoming creepily intelligent. So smart that it might scare you to think about what it can do.
Manufacturers Are Bringing Artificial Brains Into The Kitchen
The first wave of kitchen automation in the 20th-century primarily used mechanical devices to save labor. The dishwasher sprayed dirty crockery with a hot cleaning solution. Coffee machines ground coffee granules for you - you know the drill.
Then starting about five years ago, things began to change. Advances in the computer industry meant that you could - at long last - imbue appliances in the kitchen with a modicum of intelligence.
At first, the press excoriated the idea. Who needs a smart toaster?
But then when people began thinking about it a little more, they soon realized that it wasn’t actually such a bad idea. In fact, inventions like that could help to avoid the scourge of burnt toast!
Soon the idea caught on and now practically every new kitchen appliance on Gear Surfer reviews, including microwaves, has some smart elements.
Voice Controls
Having voice controls in the kitchen makes a heck of a lot of sense. The nature of cooking means that you frequently have your hands full. The last thing you want is to have to stop what you’re doing to bring a pan off the boil. With voice control, you can just bark orders at your stove, and it’ll oblige - no need for emergency maneuvers.
Voice controls also come in handy when you want to control things from outside of the kitchen. Let’s say that your roast lamb is done, and you want to leave it to stand for 30 minutes. Well, all you do is pick up your phone, open your smart stove app and tell it to switch the oven off.
Machine Learning
Most fridges are pretty dumb. They can’t do anything other than chill. But thanks to developments in machine learning, we see an entirely new class of products coming to market. These will essentially replace the products that we have right now with ones that can provide us with helpful information.
Let’s say, for instance, that you’re running low on eggs. Usually, you’d have to check the fridge, write down that you need another box, and then go to the store. But with a smart fridge, you can avoid any of that. Using machine learning, it can tell what’s low in supply and what you need to purchase soon. On top of that, it will also order food for you if you live in the right area.
Of course, technology won’t stop there. For many people, a dream smart kitchen is one that will prepare all your meals for you from scratch at a time of your choosing.
