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Sony AI has launched the ‘Gastronomy Flagship Project’ to help enhance the creativity and techniques of chefs around the world.
The Japanese technology company’s new project consists of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered recipe creation app, a chef assisting cooking robot, and a community co-creation initiative.
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“Through the power of AI and robotics, we want to reaffirm the principle of our gastronomy flagship project, which is to enable creative gastronomy that is at the same time healthy and sustainable,” Sony AI CEO Hiroaki Kitano, said in a statement.
The tech giant’s recipe creation app will aid top-level chefs in their creative process of ingredient pairing, recipe design and menu creation. It will be driven by proprietary AI algorithms, and developed using diverse information sources including recipes and ingredient data, such as taste, aroma, flavour, molecular structure, and nutrients.
The cooking robot will be designed to assist chefs from preparation to the plating. The development process involves collaborating with world-renowned chefs as well as training the robot with sensors and AI for skill acquisition.
The company also plans to explore remote operations of these robots, such as serving the chef’s meals to people in remote locations.
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Further, Sony aims to contribute to the long-term sustainability of the community. Sony AI COO Michael Spranger stated, “As gastronomy is a completely new domain for Sony, our approach is to pursue our activities in partnership with creator chefs, food experts and researchers, as well as universities, research institutes and companies with cutting-edge capabilities.
Taking a step forward under the new gastronomy project, the company interviewed a total of 18 chefs and food experts to learn about their sources of inspiration, the creative process behind their menu creation, and their use of technology, in the ‘Chef Interview Series’, Sony noted.
