Skip to Content

Snackbot

Welsh researchers are making robots that they hope will thrive in the refrigerated environments of the British snack food industry. The vision-endowed machine devised by Jem Rowland and Mark Lee of the University of Wales in Aberstwyth first examines a finished food product. The robot then makes a replica, using image processing to figure out which ingredients to fetch in sequence. Beyond building a better burrito, Rowland and Lee see their work as a step toward mass customization. Their robot would spare programmers from having to write code specifying that two slices of tomato and a pickle belong on every robo-sandwich. The Wales team is working in collaboration with three U.K. food companies-Solway Foods, Rutland Handling and R.F. Brooks-and has demonstrated the robot with simulated food. Rowland and Lee have expressed no plans to develop a home version that auto-assembles sandwiches in the kitchen fridge.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.