Sony cooks up special AI unit that aims to change the way people make food and eat

Today, Sony announced a new division at the company to focus exclusively on artificial intelligence that will have offices in Japan, the United States, and Europe.

Called Sony AI, the new division will initially begin with three ‘flagship projects’ in gaming, imaging and sensing, and gastronomy.

The company hasn’t specified what exactly these projects will be but a concept video from Sony shows the company’s vision for how AI and robotics will change how people eat in the future. 

Scroll down for video 

Sony AI is a new division created by the Japanese technology giant that will initially focus on gaming, imagining and sensors, and gastronomy 

The video shows a long kitchen counter top equipped with multiple robotic arms and camera sensors, which observe a human chopping a vegetable.

A human enters the kitchen and begins chopping a vegetable.  

‘Continue chopping like that,’ he says and walks away from the counter.  

The robotic arms pick up where he left off, with one arm holding the vegetable firmly against the counter top while a second arm picks up the knife and continues chopping slices in the thickness modeled by the human for the sensor cameras.

The video goes on to reveal a number of impressive abilities for the AI-powered kitchen counter, which autonomously manages meal preparation while its user entertains guests arriving for a festive meal. 

A concept video from Sony shows an AI powered kitchen that can, among other things, independently heat liquids like soup (pictured above) using a heated metal rod

The robots can drop a watertight lid onto any raw ingredients on the counter top and rinse them with water.

They can also heat up liquid without a stove top by inserting a heated metal rod into a carafe. 

The AI can also mix ingredients in a large capsule, then blend them. 

As an example, the video shows the arms preparing a romesco sauce, which is traditionally a blend of almonds or walnuts with roasted peppers, garlic, tomato puree, oil and seasoning. 

The AI can also calculate the appropriate temperature and cooking time that a roast chicken will need in the oven.

At the same time as all the cooking is going on, the AI can direct a small robotic server to bring drinks to guests on an elevated tray driven by a small wheeled platform that resembles a Roomba. 

‘AI and robotics will not replace chefs,’ Sony’s Shinichi Tobe told AFP and relayed by Yahoo News.

‘We are aiming to offer new tools to expand their creativity with AI and robotics.’

Sony was hopeful that its initiative wouldn’t only be an aid to home cooks but something that could AI-created dishes tailored to the tastes of its owner.

Sony’s AI-powered kitchen will handle all the heavy lifting of cooking while home owners can enjoy the company of their guests

‘The field of food requires a study of molecular structures,’ Abe said.

‘By using AI and its analytical capacity, we can create new things.’

‘It involves taste, but also aroma. Through sensing technologies, we can perhaps create new dishes that will please the human sense of taste.’

HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LEARN?

AI systems rely on artificial neural networks (ANNs), which try to simulate the way the brain works in order to learn.

ANNs can be trained to recognise patterns in information – including speech, text data, or visual images – and are the basis for a large number of the developments in AI over recent years.

Conventional AI uses input to ‘teach’ an algorithm about a particular subject by feeding it massive amounts of information.   

AI systems rely on artificial neural networks (ANNs), which try to simulate the way the brain works in order to learn. ANNs can be trained to recognise patterns in information – including speech, text data, or visual images

Practical applications include Google’s language translation services, Facebook’s facial recognition software and Snapchat’s image altering live filters.

The process of inputting this data can be extremely time consuming, and is limited to one type of knowledge. 

A new breed of ANNs called Adversarial Neural Networks pits the wits of two AI bots against each other, which allows them to learn from each other. 

This approach is designed to speed up the process of learning, as well as refining the output created by AI systems.