Patent ID: 9131807
Filing Date: 2015-09-15
Classification: A47J,G05B,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A robotic cooking apparatus comprising: at least one ingredient input section with a plurality of containers holding ingredients; at least one toothed wheel including two contiguous teeth held in walls of at least one container of the plurality of containers to provide a seal that preserves freshness and aroma of ingredients stored in said container, wherein the two contiguous teeth and a wall of said container enclose a volume of ingredient and is designed to be a sub multiple of popular measuring unit volumes; a plurality of cooking stations, each having a source of heat applied to a respective one of a plurality of vessels to be heated for cooking ingredients transferred to the vessel; at least one gantry style robot including a frame, an x-axis guide mounted to the frame, a y-axis guide mounted for movement along the x-axis guide, and at least one robot head assembly mounted for movement along the y-axis guide, the robot head assembly being capable of picking each container up from the ingredient input section, and transferring the container with the ingredients in the container from the ingredient input section to at least a selected one of the vessels in one of the cooking stations; at least one driver mounted on the robot head assembly configured to turn the at least one toothed wheel to dispense the ingredients, such that turning the at least one toothed wheel causes known quantities of ingredient to be dispensed from the container into a selected vessel when the container is at the selected vessel; a tilt motor, the robot head being capable of holding a cup and being operable by the tilt motor to tilt the cup to dispense items from the cup into the selected vessel; a mixing tool positioned to stir or mix the ingredients being cooked in the selected vessel; an input device for a user to select a recipe file and to enter user preferences and switching between allowing and disallowing online purchase; an output device; at least one level sensor at least one communication device; and at least one computer or electronic controlling device, in an non-idle mode of the robotic cooking apparatus, capable of reading a recipe from the recipe file listing ingredients, quantities, cooking times and conditions, modifying at least one of an ingredient and a quantity of the recipe based on the user preferences, capable of making ingredient substitution, able to adjust a recipe to individual tastes, sensibilities and moods for longer term usability, determining whether the recipe and ingredients in the containers match, if the recipe and ingredients in the containers do not match then providing an error message through the output device, and, if the recipe and ingredients in the containers match, then executing the recipe as modified by the user preferences by directing and monitoring the cooking stations, the gantry style robot and the robot head assembly, wherein multiple cooking stations allowing transfer of ingredients between stations without the need for human intervention, and in an idle mode of the robotic cooking apparatus, taking inventory of common ingredients among the ingredients that should be stored by picking the containers holding the common ingredients up using the gantry style robot, determining a quantity in the container using the level sensor, comparing the quantity with a prescribed comfort level quantity, and preparing a list of ingredients that need replenishment based on the comparisons, determining whether online purchase is allowed, and, if online purchase is allowed, ordering the ingredients online using the communication device.