Kitchen & Bath Business - November/December 2016 - 14

Tech Savvy

Designing the Future
Insight from the 2016 Smart Kitchen Summit
ACCORDING TO THE PEW RESEARCH CENTER'S

2015 STUDY on smartphone use,nearly two-thirds of

Americans own a smartphone and use it to simplify
daily activities.Almost everything in today's culture
works with smart technology, and the fact that the
kitchen is late to the party should be surprising.
"Consumers don't embrace technology for its
own sake," said Sharon Franke, director of the
Kitchen Appliances and Technology Lab at the
Good Housekeeping Institute, who spoke at the
Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle. "To get users
to take advantage of technology, it must be simple
to use, and it must make life easier."

ARE WE READY?

Research done by the Good Housekeeping Institute found that some of the tech luxuries, like
ordering groceries, are rarely used by consumers
who have them. Instead, most home cooks are
looking for appliances that help them stop wasting
food, know when a meal has reached a safe-to-eat
temperature and can shut off or turn on an appliance remotely. Being able to cook better-tasting
meals with efficiency also tops the list.
"The reason people eat so badly is convenience; they don't have time to cook," said Nathan
Myhrvold, chef and co-author of Modernist Cuisine, during an interview at the summit. "There is
room for innovation because people still like to
cook - they self identify with it - but they lack the
resources or the opportunities to cook at leisure."
Millennials in particular are open to the smart
kitchen, since they use technology in most other
aspects of their lives.Video plays a huge role, as millennials'reliance on recipe apps puts guided cooking
at the top of the list.Their other wants for the smart
space include time efficiency,access to multicultural
recipes and meals that can be created in small spaces.

ABOVE LEFT The microwavesized Tovala Smart Oven can
be used in two ways: as a
standalone countertop oven
controlled with an app or in conjunction with Tovala-delivered
meals. The appliance can scan
bar codes on meals the company sends the user, and then it
will cook the meal accordingly.
ABOVE MIDDLE The Gourmet-

sensor from Cucinale uses
six sensors to communicate
when food is done. It even recognizes the differences of food
amounts and contents, such
as weight, size, fat, protein,
carbs and water.

ABOVE RIGHT Set to launch at

the end of the year, the June
Intelligent Oven uses built-in
cameras with face recognition
technology to recognize food -
instead of faces - and cook the
food based on what it sees.

ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

To give home cooks what they are looking for, the industry has to learn
not only how to connect appliances to Wi-Fi but how to connect to each
other. According to Richard Gunther, director of client experience at digital
consultancy Universal Mind, who spoke at the summit, only five percent of
kitchens across America are single branded. If appliances are going to talk to
each other, companies will have to start communicating as well.
"Connectivity starts with an industry consensus," said Gunther. "I don't
think we're going to have to wait more than a few years to have everyone work
together and find a code that works."
When preliminary talks - which have been happening with companies
like Bosch and Drop, as well as GE and Alexa - turn into serious discussions,
connected products will come shortly after.
THE TALKING OVEN

Once connectivity is established, the next step for the smart kitchen is more
likely to be voice communication. As explained by Charlie Kindel, director
of the Amazon Alexa Smart Home, technology has moved from graphical
user interface on simple computers to the web, then to mobile devices. The
next step is voice user interface.
As shown by the popularity of Echo and Alexa, voice activation has the
potential to truly make life easier in the kitchen. Alexa already can move
physical things - like a garage door or a light switch - so engineering similar
products to work in the kitchen is well on the way.
"For so long we've used our hands,eyes and ears,"said Kindel."Next is voice."
One question raised at the summit was whether this technology is diluting the cooking art. Panelists like Darren Vengroff, chief scientist at Hestan
Smart Cooking, argued that it instead enables more creativity in the kitchen.
"The technology is like a painter's brush," said Vengroff. "Especially for
millennials, cooking is about wanting to be hands on and creating something
authentic. Technology shouldn't be robotic but bionic."

BY ERINN LOUCKS

Kitchen & Bath Business / NOV.-DEC. 2016 / KBBONLINE.COM / The official publication of KBIS (KBIS.com)

LEFT Taking on 3D food printing

is the nūfood Robot, a kitchen
appliance that rin s fine
dining experiences to homes at
the click of a button. Inspired by
molecular gastronomy, it works
by melding small juicy spheres
to form a 3D shape, which can
be served to accessorize a dish
or be consumed on its own.

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Kitchen & Bath Business - November/December 2016

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