A food preparation apparatus includes a cooker assembly, a food delivery mechanism, a food release mechanism, a food removal mechanism, and a food transport mechanism. The food delivery mechanism includes a first arm and a food vessel mounted to the first arm. The food vessel is configured to deposit a food item onto the cooker assembly. The food release mechanism includes a second arm that is movable between a first position spaced apart from the cooking station and a second position adjacent to a location at which the food vessel deposits the food item onto the cooking station. The food removal mechanism includes a third arm and a set of wipers. The food transport mechanism includes a spatula. The food removal mechanism and the food transport mechanism cooperate to remove the food item from the cooker assembly and transport the food item to a desired location.

Provided is an apparatus and method for protecting against unsafe electric current conditions. A protections circuit may be used in a device, such as an electric grill, that has one or more electric loads, such as heating elements. The protection circuit may protect against various failure scenarios, including, without limitation, instances of ground fault, over current, driver failure, and failure of a microprocessor. In response to a failure, the protection circuit may trip a latch relay or disable a triac driver to stop current from flowing.

A managing apparatus for positioning rental vehicles includes a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the managing apparatus to access model information and location information for a plurality of autonomous vehicles, receive a request including a delivery location and a chosen model for renting, select an autonomous vehicle of the chosen model from among the plurality of autonomous vehicles based on the model information, the location information, and the delivery location, instruct the selected autonomous vehicle to fully-autonomously or semi-autonomously travel to the delivery location, and instruct the selected autonomous vehicle to switch to manual operation mode at the delivery location for manual operation by a vehicle rental customer.

An automated kitchen assistant system inspects a food preparation area in the kitchen environment using a novel sensor combination. The combination of sensors includes an Infrared (IR) camera that generates IR image data and at least one secondary sensor that generates secondary image data. The IR image data and secondary image data are processed to obtain combined image data. A trained convolutional neural network is employed to automatically compute an output based on the combined image data. The output includes information about the identity and the location of the food item. The output may further be utilized to command a robotic arm, kitchen worker, or otherwise assist in food preparation. Related methods are also described.

An automated kitchen assistant system inspects a food preparation area in the kitchen environment using a novel sensor combination. The combination of sensors includes an Infrared (IR) camera that generates IR image data and at least one secondary sensor that generates secondary image data. The IR image data and secondary image data are processed to obtain combined image data. A trained convolutional neural network is employed to automatically compute an output based on the combined image data. The output includes information about the identity and the location of the food item. The output may further be utilized to command a robotic arm, kitchen worker, or otherwise assist in food preparation. Related methods are also described.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a multifunctional cooking oven comprises an oven cover, an oven body, a first heating device, a second heating device, an elastic device and a first control panel, wherein the oven cover is hinged with the oven body, the rotation angle between the oven cover and the oven body falls in between 0 degree and 180 degrees; the first heating device is arranged on the bottom surface of the oven cover, and the elastic device is arranged in the inner cavity of the oven body; the second heating device is arranged in the inner cavity of the oven body and connected with the elastic device, which drives the second heating device to go up and down; the multifunctional cooking oven also comprises a pot cover, which is buckled onto the pot body; in a word, the multifunctional cooking oven has multiple functions and thus possesses powerful practicability.

A cooking apparatus includes a housing defining an internal chamber. The internal chamber includes a cooking portion. The apparatus includes a single cooking container configured and adapted to be removably received in the cooking portion of the internal chamber. The single cooking container defines a cooking volume. The apparatus includes at least two heating elements positioned within the cooking portion of the internal chamber.

The present invention provides a combination pressure cooker and air fryer lid that may be attached to a vessel. The lid may be adjustable between two general cooking positions. In the first cooking position, the lid may operate with the vessel as a pressure cooker. In the second cooking position, the may operate with the vessel as an air fryer. In performing either of the pressure cooking or air fryer cooking functions, the lid need not be replaced.

An air fryer comprises an air flow passage provided between an inner shell and an outer shell; a first cooking chamber having a first cooking fan in air flow communication with the first cooking chamber and a first heating element in thermal communication with the first cooking chamber. A cooling fan, when actuated, circulates air within the airflow passage. A common motor is drivingly connected to each of the cooking fan and the cooling fan, wherein a first axle portion drivingly connects the common motor to the cooking fan, a second axle portion drivingly connects the common motor to the cooling fan and, when the air fryer is positioned with the bottom on a horizontal surface, the first axle portion extends upwardly from an upper side of the common motor and the second axle portion extends downwardly from a lower side of the common motor.

Disclosed is a steam-type air fryer, including: an air outlet structure, including a body shell, the body shell is provided therein with a cooking cavity, a steam generator in the body shell generates hot steam which is introduced into the cooking cavity, the cooking cavity is provided with an air outlet hole for discharging residual steam, a cold wind passage into which external cold air enters is formed between the cooking cavity and the body shell; and a water inlet structure, including an air fryer main body, an upper end of the air fryer main body is provided with a water tank seat, the water tank seat is detachably provided with a water tank, wherein the water tank is provided therein with a water outlet seat extending upward, the water tank seat is provided with a water outlet pipe corresponding to the water outlet seat.