A social robot that consists of a knife, app and "scanner" for use in the kitchen, to improve your cooking skills. An increasing amount of people have trouble learning to cook the later it is that they start[1], and this idea intends to be an intervention into that space.

Select your recipe, then simply go through it step-by-step until the meal is complete. As you progress through cutting things apart to use for cooking, an LED indicator on the knife, and the "face" (and speaker) on the scanner indicate if you're "doing it right".

The scanner and knife sensors record your actions. Afterward, you review what you've done against what was expected of you, on your smartphone. This pushes the cook to consider what they can improve on the next time they work on the same meal.

This concept focuses only on the aspect of cooking using the knife correctly (for now), and because there's a variety of ingredients one might cut, it wont be a single use tool, unlike the initial concept.

Project Inspiration

When previously volunteering at a homeless shelter, a common issue is that older volunteers need to teach new ones how to cook. This led me to the thought - surely there's apps and tools already developed to do just this?

Cooking Mama is a game game that teaches one how to cook. However, it only teaches the steps to take, and doesn't improve your physical dexterity and safety awareness with cooking tools.

Previously I stated the idea of "smart cooking tools doing everything for you" being something I wanted to avoid, I've found an example of one here. Sure, the Kuvings blender makes it extremely easy to cook and disassemble materials... but there's no room to make a mistake or chances to fail... it just feels like the blender replaces you.

At the same time, Peeqo inspired the scanner, with the idea of a small device that watches you and has reactions that can change how you act... it sasses you essentially.

With Rekaptured, the idea is that you go on cooking as you always have, and there's additions to your process that don't overwhelm you - and the opportunity for you to mess up your meal. You're collaborating with the tool to complete a somewhat complex task.

Initially the concept revolved around the knife talking to you. But cooking environments can be loud and chaotic, it was important that feedback had both a visual and audio indicator (angry and happy tones on scanner), and, that if there was talking, it could be ignored while cooking.

Feedback also needed to be able to be revisited later. In this case, if a mistake is made, the scanner and knife react, so the cook knows to check the app later to see what went wrong, and can reflect.

[1] (Background reading on learning to cook)

F. Lavelle et al, “Learning cooking skills at different ages: a cross-sectional study,” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 13, no. 1, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0446-y

A knife that is a social robot. Use it wrong, and you'll be chastised - becoming a Kitchen Kriminal, if you will, because you're breaking knife safety rules. The intent, the knife engages in a brief conversation with you depending on how you used it wrong.

An increasing amount of people have trouble learning to cook as the later it is that they start[1], and I believe one of the many opportunities to address this starts with the simple act of handling a kitchen knife safely.

From experience, there's at least three interactions are at the heart of using a knife safely - proper grip, a safe angle so the edge does not chip, and appropriate force to smoothly get through ingredients and reduce dulling.

To a lesser extent, a response to the topic of Human Technology Symbiosis from Week 1. A significant amount of smart technology simply expects to be let into your home, where it sits idly the whole time, until you tap a button to activate it.

I wanted this smart tool to be more engaging than that, even if it only has humourous retorts to you misusing it... It's a companion rather than a substitute. "You" are using the smart tool to get a task done, and it helps you do that, rather than taking "you" out of the process entirely save for hitting a button.

Project Inspiration

Modified from an idea in response to the prompt "design to enlighten in the kitchen using x with the property of disgust".

Additionally inspired by the idea of how in horror movies, the antagonist may be compelled by their tool of choice to chase down unsuspecting individuals. I didn't have a specific film franchise in mind... just the idea of it being very creepy to have a sharp object that talks.

References

[1] (Background reading on learning to cook)

F. Lavelle et al, “Learning cooking skills at different ages: a cross-sectional study,” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 13, no. 1, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-016-0446-y

OSCAR

OSCAR is a three part bin that tracks the amount and kind of waste produced by each person in a household. Giving people a way to see how much they throw away can help highlight unnecessary waste and make them think about finding a more sustainable alternative to things they buy.

How it works

OSCAR can be setup to have profiles for everyone who lives in a household. A display on the front of OSCAR shows the current amount of waste produced by each person from the start of the week. At the end of the week when the bin needs to be emptied, OSCAR will decide who must empty it based on the amount of waste produced that week. When someone uses OSCAR the items they have thrown away will be checked by OSCAR to see if they have placed it in the correct bin. If the wrong bin has been used, OSCAR will make a horrendous retching sound and throw the waste back out of the bin.

Inspiration

I came up with the initial idea for OSCAR during the brainstorming session with the playing cards, which gave me the sentence ‘Design to train in a kitchen using sound with the quality playfully’, the idea was then further developed within the group at my table. The other inspiration for OSCAR was Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.

A3 Poster

Smart Kitchen

A3 Sketch of Concept

Description of Idea

Cooking in the kitchen can be a mess of preparation and multitasking, getting everything you need from every nooks and cranny, hiding in the shelves, cupboards and racks. The Smart Kitchen is a simplified and streamlined experience where everything that you would use in the kitchen is both compacted into a manageable work-space while also being put online and able to respond to your beck and call.

This project incorporates all kitchen appliances and drawers into a compact system which extends from the main body, opening doors or sliding out a bench-top, allowing proper work-space when in use and neat storage when packed away. The whole system is online and voice activated, allowing users to call for their oven, microwave or a spoon and the system opens and even operates the selected command. This will be paired with an app for remote capabilities incorporating features such as:

• Saving or Creating presets for certain meals or functions, like a Ramen Setting, Morning Coffee, Nanna's Cake or more
• Editing or creating commands which will open the set drawers, benches, and spices while pre-heating the oven, warming the hotplate and any other simple task, all of which can be added to the presets created
• Voice command edits or changes for custom lines that suit users tasks or to have fun saying catchphrases like 'set lasers to stun' to start the microwave at 50% power
• Upload or download other's presets for recipes to make finding a favorite meal even easier

This will make users interact with their kitchen in different ways which they find most useful and fun, while condensing the usually large room of a house, making way for more compact designs needed on watercraft, spacecraft or even city apartment blocks in the future.

Links to Concept Inspiration

• Minimalist Shows trying to remove clutter and unnecessary things in homes, for example; Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix
• Bruce Willis' apartment in the movie 'The Fifth Element' was a major inspiration for storage with a bed that slides into the wall, and a fridge/shower/cupboard swapping section. This is the best link I found to show some of this off:
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• Rotating Car garages which move cars around onto different floors and when asked will retrieve the cars
• Adjustable Desks where the height can be changed to suit the user