Nutritional substance systems and methods are disclosed enabling the tracking and communication of changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values of nutritional substances, and further enabling the adaptive storage and adaptive conditioning of nutritional substances.

An apparatus and method for controlling the movement of liquids into and out of a container is described. The cleanable, portable, fully automated apparatus includes a main container for holding the food product, a liquid inlet container having a liquid inlet and inlet valve for controllably providing liquid into the main container and a liquid outlet container receiving liquid drained from the main container. A heater automatically heats the main container and a motor rotates or otherwise moves the main container from a receiving position for receiving fresh liquid from the inlet container to a drainage position for draining waste liquid via gravity from the main container into the outlet container. This rotation/movement of the main container can be used repeatedly to add fresh liquid and remove waste liquid during multiple fully automated cycles (e.g., sprouting, rinsing, soaking, cooking, etc.) that do not require user interaction.

A modular system for autonomous food assembly includes: a skid operable in a first configuration configured to transiently install on a vehicle and in a second configuration configured to transiently install in a kiosk; a set of food dispensing modules configured to transiently install on the skid and store and dispense food based on food orders; and a fixed infrastructure configured to distribute power from a first power source in the truck to the set of food dispensing modules in the first configuration, from a second power source in the fixed kiosk to the set of food dispensing modules in the second configuration, and to the set of food dispensing modules; a controller installed on the skid and configured to receive food orders and control the set of food dispensing modules to dispense food orders from the truck in the first configuration and from the kiosk in the second configuration.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods, computer program products, and computer systems of a robotic apparatus with robotic instructions replicating a food preparation recipe. In one embodiment, a robotic control platform, comprises one or more sensors; a mechanical robotic structure including one or more end effectors, and one or more robotic arms; an electronic library database of minimanipulations; a robotic planning module configured for real-time planning and adjustment based at least in part on the sensor data received from the one or more sensors in an electronic multi-stage process file, the electronic multi-stage process recipe file including a sequence of minimanipulations and associated timing data; a robotic interpreter module configured for reading the minimanipulation steps from the minimanipulation library and converting to a machine code; and a robotic execution module configured for executing the minimanipulation steps by the robotic platform to accomplish a functional result.

A cooking system is disclosed which includes a wok for receiving food, the wok being placed on top of a base unit housing a heating element for heating up the wok, a lid substantially covering the wok, at least a portion of the lid being able to rotate relative to the wok, a shaft secured to the rotating portion of the lid, a stirrer pivotally mounted to the shaft, a controller housed in the base unit controlling the heating element and rotations of the shaft and the lid, the rotation of the shaft causing a part of the stirrer to sweep from an edge of the wok to approximately a center of the wok in a low path and return to an edge of the wok in a high path, in the low path the part of the stirrer approximately touching a surface of the wok, in the high path the part of the stirrer being high above and not touching the surface of the wok, and a computing device residing outside of the base unit and signally coupled to the controller, the computing device storing a computer program upon execution instructing the computing device to send operating commands to the controller, the operating commands controlling the heating element and the rotations of the shaft and the lid.

Various charcoal cartridges are provided herein, including a charcoal cartridge having a unitary charcoal slab and a combustible igniter layer extending across the unitary charcoal slab. In some instances, the charcoal cartridge may have a plurality of holes extending through the unitary charcoal slab and/or a flavor layer that includes wood chips.

Exemplary embodiments of a system and method for bimodal air control in a kettle-style grill are configured to be detachably mounted to the exterior of a kettle-styled grill such as, but not limited to, a Weber® charcoal grill. When mounted to the kettle-styled grill, a plenum-like component directs air flows to the interior of the grill's kettle via the kettle's lower body damper holes. A manually adjustable intake damper in the plenum component allows, restricts, or prevents a drawn ambient air flow into the plenum component. Separately, a forced air flow generated by a fan may also be provided into the plenum component. Adjustment of the intake damper may also adjust damper blades inside the grill's kettle. Ash that falls out of the kettle's damper holes falls through the plenum component and is captured in an ash receptacle that is removably mounted to the plenum component.

The present disclosure is to provide a method for providing customized cooking content and a user terminal for implementing the same that may increase a quality of the dish and interest in cooking by allowing a user to cook at a pace that suits a user's level in consideration of cooking skills of the user, and may provide an environment more suitable for cooking in association with a near kitchen tool and/or home appliance. Provided is a user terminal including a display, a camera, and a controller for performing control to recognize information about a cooking process appearing in cooking content via artificial intelligence, recognize, via the artificial intelligence, a cooking situation of a user filmed via the camera during reproduction of the cooking content, and adjust a reproduction speed of the cooking content based on the cooking process of the cooking content and the cooking situation of the user.

A wireless power transmission apparatus including at least one processor configured to drive a plurality of working coils to transmit power to drive a communication interface of a cooking appliance with which a communication connection has been released when the cooking appliance is moved from a first cooking zone; receive a first wireless communication signal including identification information from the cooking appliance, and drive the working coils to generate respectively corresponding magnetic fields according to a plurality of different power transmission patterns corresponding to a plurality of cooking zones; and output second cooking zone information through an output interface in response to receiving a second wireless communication signal including the identification information regarding the cooking appliance and information regarding the second cooking zone corresponding to one of the plurality of different power transmission patterns detected at a current location of the cooking appliance.

A beverage heating receptacle device for heating a beverage includes a shell, which defines an interior space and which is formed to define a receptacle having an annular sidewall that extends from a bottom to an open top. A beverage is positionable in the receptacle. A heating element is engaged to the shell and is positioned in the interior space proximate to an inner section of the annular sidewall and an upper section of the bottom. A base is selectively engageable to the receptacle so that the base extends from the bottom. A battery is positioned in the base and is operationally engaged to the heating element upon engagement of the base to the receptacle. The battery thus is enabled to selectively power the heating element to heat the beverage.