Robot-supported food experiences exploring aesthetic plating with design prototypes

Christian Østergaard Laursen, Søren Pedersen, Timothy Merritt*, Ole Caprani

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/conference proceedingArticle in proceedingResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Robots are increasingly taking up roles in society to support and interact with humans in various contexts including the home, health-care, production and assembly lines, among others. Much of the research focuses on efficiency, speed, accuracy of repetitive tasks, and in most cases the robot simply replaces and performs work tasks originally performed by humans. Looking beyond the simple replacement of humans with robotic servants, we focus on increasing creativity and pleasurable experiences supported by robots for the preparation, serving and consumption of food. This is a culturally rich area to design for, which is steeped in tradition, social norms and expectations. How can robots play a role in this context? We observed and interviewed chefs to gain a sense for opportunities for robotic technologies. We then created nine exploratory video prototypes involving food preparation with a robotic arm taking departure in themes of haute cuisine, “plating”, and the arts in order to show some of the capabilities of robots and to spark their imagination for possible future uses of robots in the kitchen. Through questionnaires and interviews, we gained feedback from ten chefs with resulting themes including harsh criticism and resistance to robots as well as desire and interest for robots to support food experiences as a partner in the restaurant. We discuss emergent themes from the feedback and provide discussion on future work needed to explore robots as partners in creative contexts.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCultural Robotics - 1st International Workshop, CR 2015 and Held as Part of IEEE RO-MAN 2015, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsJeffrey T.K.V. Koh, Belinda J. Dunstan, David Silvera-Tawil, Mari Velonaki
Number of pages24
PublisherPhysica-Verlag
Publication date1 Jan 2016
Pages107-130
ISBN (Print)9783319429441
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2016
Event1st International Workshop on Cultural Robotics, CR 2015 and Held as Part of IEEE RO-MAN 2015 - Kobe, Japan
Duration: 31 Aug 201531 Aug 2015

Conference

Conference1st International Workshop on Cultural Robotics, CR 2015 and Held as Part of IEEE RO-MAN 2015
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityKobe
Period31/08/201531/08/2015
SeriesLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9549
ISSN0302-9743

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