The invention of a machine that can automatically cook beef noodle soup in one minute could help promote Chinese cuisine around the globe, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology professor Lin Chi-yu (林其禹) said on Tuesday.
He has devoted a lot of time to researching smart machinery and robots, and the idea for the automated cooking machine surfaced when he had a craving for Chinese cuisine while traveling, Lin said.
The machine was developed with the help of his student Wu Jui-teng (吳睿騰), who is pursuing a master’s degree at the university, Lin said.
Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
The processes of providing food containers, cooking noodles, ladling soup, adding soup and providing appetizers are all automated and would not need manual assistance or supervision, Lin said.
However, the restocking of noodles, stock soup and other ingredients would still have to be handled by someone, Lin added.
Customers would be able to customize their orders, ranging from how long they want their meal cooked to what kind of noodles they want, Lin said.
Regardless of the customization settings, the machine would only require one minute to produce the food from the time the order is placed, Lin said.
As there are no similar products on the market, they had to come up with the design, materials and components by themselves, Wu said.
Every redesign taught them something new and brought them closer to creating the ideal machine, Wu said.
During the design process, he learned new skills, such as mechanical design and how to use software to generate design blueprints, Wu said.
“The current price tag for the machine stands at NT$1 million [US$32,461], but we expect that buyers would be able to break even within two years,” Lin said.
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