This blog post explores whether robots can perform creative cooking and the possibility of replacing human chefs, using the movie Bicentennial Man as a reference.
At the elementary school I attended, they used to hold a ‘Draw the Future in 20 Years’ contest on Science Day. A favorite subject for me and my friends was ‘a pill that keeps you full all day with just one dose’. We imagined that in the future, we could live solely on pills containing all nutrients and never feel hungry. Yet, we’d also think, “But how can you live happily without eating any delicious food?” and the future often felt bleak. However, the movie Bicentennial Man depicts humans still eating and enjoying food in the future. This film tells the story of ‘Andrew,’ an android with emotions and creativity, becoming human, set against the backdrop of 200 years from 2005 to 2205. In the film, around 2180, Andrew marvels at the taste and texture of toast and bacon thanks to his newly implanted artificial organs. This suggests humans will still eat food 200 years from now. Food isn’t merely a means of survival; it’s a vital pleasurable activity that brings joy and satisfaction to life. So, will humans still cook in the future? Could an era arrive where robot chefs prepare meals?
In the film, Andrew serves his owner’s family steak and assorted grilled vegetables for dinner, and waffles topped with fruit and maple syrup for breakfast. At first, Richard, the owner, feels uneasy about food made by a robot. But after putting a piece of steak in his mouth and savoring it slowly, he exclaims, ‘Excellent!’ Andrew’s cooking moved Richard and his family, and he went on to prepare every meal for them for decades afterward. So, could a robot in reality make food that satisfies both the body and soul like this? Could such a robot replace the role of our mother, wife, or husband? Many people believe that cooking requires a complex blend of skills, that one must be able to taste to create flavor, and that cooking is a creative activity only humans can do properly. However, by effectively combining advancing science and technology, robots could indeed cook.
When humans cook, they see with their eyes, taste with their palate, smell with their nose, feel with their hands, and detect heat and humidity. All these activities must come together to create safe, nutritious, and delicious food. But can a robot properly perform these processes that come so naturally to humans? It is possible if each function is specifically assigned. For instance, the human sensory organs that identify the type and condition of ingredients can be replaced by various sensors. In the movie, Andrew demonstrates the ability to not only perceive an object’s appearance through his eye sensors but also analyze its characteristics. Using these eye sensors, a robot could read the shape and color of ingredients, find matching ingredient data, and identify them. Next, it would use analysis sensors to determine freshness and quality. This process is essential as it relates to food safety. The analysis sensor would perform physicochemical component analysis, microbial analysis, and nutritional component analysis of substances within the food.
Meanwhile, the flexible and delicate movements humans use when handling ingredients can be achieved by mimicking human joints and muscles. Andrew’s hands in the movie are very large and have only one joint per finger, raising questions about how he could cook. Andrew cannot even clench his hand, causing him to drop and break the ‘glass doll’ given to him by the ‘little lady’. However, future cooking robots will have a structure similar to a human hand. With fingers that can bend and curl at multiple angles and arms that can rotate freely, they will be able to prepare a wide variety of dishes. Additionally, they could be designed to measure indoor temperature and humidity to maintain a comfortable cooking environment and adjust their movements based on the kitchen layout.
But even if a robot possesses all these capabilities, it doesn’t necessarily make it a sufficient chef. The most crucial element in cooking is taste. Delicious food enriches people’s lives. So, can a robot create flavors that move people? Many might think robots can’t make delicious food because they can’t taste it. However, it is possible to enable robots to perceive taste. When humans eat food, taste-producing substances bind to receptors on the tongue, sending signals to the brain. The brain then synthesizes these signals with information about the food to recognize the taste. This process can be introduced to robots by equipping them with receptors mimicking the tongue and enabling them to synthesize signals to recognize taste. This is likely how Andrew experienced the new world of taste.
Meanwhile, for a robot to perceive taste like a human, it must consider various factors such as temperature, mood, and memories associated with food. While temperature can be incorporated into mechanical design, emotions and memories present more complex challenges. After sufficiently accumulating data on how the human body changes when experiencing specific moods, this could be translated into algorithms and applied to robots. This would enable robots to adjust recipes according to specific moods. Of course, taste preferences vary by individual, but if information like the tendency to prefer salty and spicy foods when stressed is input, the robot could adjust seasoning accordingly. This is a practical adjustment method, as even human chefs often fail to perfectly gauge someone’s mood. Robots can also store all recipes and consistently deliver the same taste. For instance, a robot that perfectly recreates Mom’s soybean paste stew would surely move anyone.
Through such human-mimicking functions and programming, robots can produce delicious meals. But what distinguishes a robot-made dish from something simply microwaved? Some might argue that since the robot merely followed its program, it isn’t truly cooking. Cooking is considered an art form, not mere preparation, requiring creativity and skill to enhance ingredients’ inherent flavors or create harmonious combinations. So, can robots demonstrate creativity? Robots equipped with artificial intelligence could. Even if not at the level of strong AI, weak AI—which makes judgments based on predefined rules—can already do this. Adjusting flavors based on a person’s mood or state would also fall within the scope of weak AI. Moreover, robots can synthesize new flavor combinations by integrating weather data, the eater’s mood, and other information from their database. This process resembles human creativity. Thus, dishes created by robots could also be viewed as outcomes of creative activity in a broad sense.
Of course, a chef robot cannot be completely identical to a human chef. However, through eye sensors, analytical sensors, and delicate robotic arms and hands, robots can create dishes similar to those made by humans. Furthermore, with functions to detect and adjust taste, they can prepare food that suits people’s palates and create new combinations of dishes using vast databases. Therefore, it can be said that robots can cook. While robots cannot perfectly replace humans, they offer significant advantages: objectively managing food safety, safely executing dangerous cooking techniques without burns or injuries, and consistently producing any dish without complaint while maintaining uniform taste.
Given the current level of technology, robotic chefs are no longer a distant future prospect. Combining various functions makes their development entirely feasible. While initial errors may occur, continuous improvement and feature additions will enable robots to advance rapidly. Robots will not be simple machines like microwaves; they will take on the role of chefs, creating food suited to the situation and inventing new dishes. People will experience fullness, satisfaction, and pleasure through the food prepared by robotic chefs.
