Wrocław University of Science and Technology students and graduates have built a robot that serves meals
Project coordinator Wojciech Jopek presents Bistrobot - a machine that serves hot meals - at Wrocław University of Technology. The machine is the work of Food Robotics, a company founded by students and graduates of Wrocław University of Technology. Photo: PAP/Maciej Kulczyński 5.01.2018
A team of Wrocław University of Science and Technology students and graduates constructed the Bistrobot, a machine for self-service sale of hot meals. The creators emphasize that it is the first such machine in the world.
At the moment the robot's menu consists of six dishes. It takes two to four minutes to prepare a meal. The prototype of the device has already been installed in the Wrocław University of Science and Technology building. Its authors are students and graduates of the university, founders of the company Food Robotics.
"We hope that our project will change the future of gastronomy and revolutionize our thinking about meals and how we perceive food served by machines" - said the project coordinator Wojciech Jopek during the presentation of the robot on Friday.
Students were inspired to create Bistrobot by the people's growing awareness about healthy nutrition. "We pay more often attention to the origin of products, we are aware of the importance of healthy food. Dietary habits of Polish people are also changing, we eat out more often" - said Jopek. According to its creators, Bistrobot responds to these needs because it combines healthy and easily available food.
During the preparation process customers can check the composition of the meal.
According to the project coordinator, despite the fact that meals are served by a machine, these are not highly processed meals; they do not contain preservatives and are prepared from fresh ingredients. "These are restaurant meals prepared by a chef" - added Jopek.
The creators emphasize that their project is distinguished by the innovative application of flash freezing technology, to which meals are subjected, as well as a hybrid heating system. "The meals are cooled to the temperature of -20 degrees, which allows to keep them fresh and preserves their good quality. We use a special technology for heating food - high power infrared lamps are responsible for the baking effect, so the food does not look like from a microwave" - explained the coordinator.
The machine supervision system is also innovative. "We have a full remote control over the device and we know what is happening with the machine in every moment" - added Jopek.
Students admitted that the road to building the machine was long. The idea appeared already in 2011, and work on the construction took for 7 years. Jopek said that it is difficult to start an innovative company in Poland. "The problems are administrative barriers, among other things" - he said.
The creators of the Bistrobot technology are starting work on a series of five more robots and, as they emphasize, by the end of this year there will be fifty of them. "We intend to place machines in various locations. Suitable places include hospitals, office buildings and all places that have daytime traffic" - the project coordinator told PAP.
Another Food Robotics project, developed in cooperation with the Provincial Specialist Hospital, is a bionic hand, which will be first put on the patient in the first quarter of 2018.
PAP - Science in Poland
author: Agata Tomczyńska
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