Qualitaly_110

APR. MAY. 2019 VII We can take care of the difference without passing it on to our customers. We hope to extend this initiative to other fairs that are members of the association “Sagre e Dintorni”. Thousands of people pass through our festivals,” he concludes, “and I believe that our initiative is also a way to raise awareness of these issues among the population.” (the first instalment)* ______________________________ *In the next issue of Qualitaly, the word passes to the exhibitors ______________________________ AT PAGE 20 IN DEPTH The robots are also coming to the restaurant Robots that deliver, cook, and create recipes. Artificial intelligence capable of analyzing the Big Data of our customers, to provide orders and organize work in the kitchen. Are they intended to replace “humans”? Meanwhile, the Michelin-starred restaurants are using them, and they invest in them as well By Anna Muzio The restaurant of the future is here. It seems like something from a science fiction movie, but it has already opened in California, Japan and China. And tends to make less of human work,thanks to robotics and artificial intelligence. In the kitchen, in the restaurant and for deliveries, with drones (existing already in Reykjavik in Iceland) or the best robot on wheels such as the Italian Yape. They are smart workers which don’t get sick, don’t make mistakes in their orders, don’t make trade union claims and are paid for only once (or rented). The advanced tips - the fast food chains - have already started. Like Caliburger, a Pasadena burgery that uses Flippy, the Miso Robotics robot consisting of a mechanical arm and connected to the Cloud that cooks meatballs and fries to perfection, thanks to thermal sensors. Bear Robotics, a company created by a former engineer of Google, John Has, has launched Penny, a robot waiter, who juggles between the tables quietly and efficiently. It has already served 40 thousand clients, and you can now “rent” it with a promise: to reduce costs. In Tokyo, Dawn coffee is managed by four robots controlled remotely by people with physical disabilities. And from KFC in China with kiosks, thanks to facial recognition, you can not only pay with a smile but get advice based on your age, gender and mood. THE STARS? THEY INVEST IN THEM But now automation is no longer just “relegated” to fast cooking, as we would like to believe. In the future, it will impact everyone. Involving the catering industry as has happened with industry, commerce, media and jobs. The proof is already there, in Boston, and it’s called Spyce, a restaurant created by four MIT engineers but with a varied menu - curry, bowl, noodle and fried rice - supervised by the “culinary director”, the Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud. The idea is to offer high standard meals with a great attention to the quality of ingredients, at fast food prices. A concept that has attracted chefs such as Thomas Keller, Jerome Bocuse and Gavin Kaysen who have decided to invest in the company. The kitchen robot allows for greater efficiency, consistency and quality of the offer at a much more affordable price, accessible to all. The same philosophy for the gourmet burgers of Creator in San Francisco. And this year, Moley’s “robotic kitchen” should also be on the market with two mechanical arms that promise the same speed, sensitivity and movements as human hands. A skill developed by the machine by “copying” the gestures of Chef Tim Anderson, winner of Master Chef UK. NON-HUMAN CREATIVITY Of course, the creativity of the chef is an all-human prerogative, how do you delegate the creation of new dish to a machine? You can. In 2016 IBM launched Chef Watson, an application that suggests the most suitable combinations by analyzing the chemical composition and nutritional values of hundreds of ingredients and a database of 10 thousand recipes. It can create new dishes or “improve” the ones in the menu. In the USA it is used extensively by chefs, in Italy few people know about it (or admit to using it). But the IA is also used to better organize the hard work in the kitchen: starting with the orders, it instructs the kitchen staff on the sequence and timing of the work, displaying them on screens so that all the dishes arrive at the table at the same time. While increasingly sophisticated 3D printers allow you to customize each individual dish with messages from the kitchen or a themed design.