A Robot That Can Follow A Recipe & Bake Cookies

We’ve seen a lot of robots over the past few years, and when you see the video below, you might not think it’s anything really impressive. However, think about it… This robot can mix up homemade cookie dough, knead it to just the right consistency, make a giant cookie, and bake it for exactly the correct amount of time. Do you know how complicated that is? I can’t even do that. Daaaaang!

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “The process of creaming butter and sugar, mixing in a handful of dry ingredients and sprinkling in chocolate chips to make cookies is a recipe simple enough for most humans to follow, but for a robot, it’s a complex task that requires hours of hierarchical planning by roboticists and real-time planning by the robot.” This robot is even programmed to know where in the kitchen to locate the ingredients.

I understand how people can get emotionally attached to robots because when they perform human tasks like this; they seem cute and loveable, which are not usually traits associated with metal-beings. It costs about $400,000 to make a robot that can do this. If I had an extra $400,000 lying around, I’d want one. How cool would it be to program him to make a perfect dinner every night with no hassle? I’m alllll over it. I wonder if I could program him to load the dishwasher too. :)

Via: [Presurfer]