Overview
Kitchen can only be a lovely space when you can cook what you want to eat. Mama is a 1-on-1 cooking instructor on a kitchen counter. It is specially designed for people who want to cook but don’t know how or what to do in the kitchen. Nowadays, more and more people don’t know how to cook. Some people panic once they stand in front of the kitchen counter. They don’t know how to get things started and, of course, I am one of them. Often time, my first thing to do before cooking is to call my mother and ask for instructions. Mama is designed with the same concept to provide guidance and safety measure. Mama will not only offer you a selection of menus, but a step-by-step instruction will be displayed onto the interactive counter top. The whole process of cooking will be guided by various intelligent measures, such as cutting guideline, weight measure, and various diagrams. I hope Mama can make cooking fun and safe for all beginners. On the other hand, by tuning up the computer program, this same idea can be applied to professional kitchen, where precise procedure and safety is highly critical.
Technical Idea
The whole kitchen counter is a flat computer; it has a made-to-shape multi-touch screen monitor equipped with weight and temperature sensors underneath the counter surface.
1. Starts from the “Mama’s menu” multi-touch screen (left), enter desired food to the system and find ingredients, recipes and instructions.
2. Once a recipe is chosen, images and description of each individual ingredient will show in the middle of the kitchen counter. The cook has to identify the right item in the refrigerator and place them at the proper locations as displayed.
3. Now, all the ingredients are identified. The step-by-step instruction starts! The working station is the middle counter cutting board. Cutting diagram will be shown on the board to provide a proper and precise cut through various ingredients. Detail description will be shown at the same time to explain the procedure and the character of the ingredient. Once all ingredients are washed, cut and organized, stove will turn on with proper timer. The final process is complete by serving the dishes on the other side of the counter.
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