A robotic cooking system

Abstract

A robotic systems for preparing meals having: a robotic arm with a controller and a motor drive unit, an end of arm tool; a plurality of ingredient holding and dispensing assemblies, each comprising a container for holding and dispensing the ingredients; a cooking receptacle to cook ingredients placed therein; dishes storing device; a tray adapted to receive ingredients from the dispenser and be releasably gripped by the gripper; a dish and food transfer area having at least one compartment, comprising an internal access door, an external access door and at least one surface adapted for placing a dish or food; a cleaning subsystem to clean the cooking receptacle and the tray. The end of arm tool is provided with a rotary drive adapted to releasably engaged the plurality of the containers for holding a ingredients so that the rotation of the rotary drive causes the dispenser to dispense the ingredient.

1 .- 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . A robotic cooking system, comprising: a robotic arm with a controller and a motor drive unit, an end of arm tool with a gripper; a plurality of ingredient holding and dispensing assemblies, each of the ingredient holding and dispensing assemblies comprising a container for holding a supply of an ingredient and dispenser for dispensing an amount of the ingredient from a discharge of the ingredient holding and dispensing assembly; a cooking receptacle, being configured to cook food ingredients placed therein; dishes storing device; a tray adapted to receive food ingredients from the dispenser and designed to be releasably gripped by the gripper; a dish and food transfer area having at least one compartment; a cleaning subsystem configured to clean the cooking receptacle and the tray; wherein the end of arm tool is further provided with a rotary drive adapted to be releasably engaged with the engagement means of a plurality of the containers for holding a supply of an ingredient designed so that at the engaged position the rotation of the rotary drive of the end of arm tool causes the dispenser of the ingredient holding and dispensing assembly to dispense an amount of the ingredient from the discharge of the ingredient holding and dispensing assembly; wherein the rotary drive is provided with a flexible coupling adapted to compensate misalignment and/or ensure easy entering of the end of the engaging part of the rotary drive to the engagement means of a plurality of the containers, wherein the end of arm tool is further provided with one or more air nozzles directed towards the inner part of the tray, so to create air flow along the surface of the tray towards a discharge edge of the tray to facilitate discharging food ingredients from the tray. 
     
     
         12 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein a subset of the plurality of ingredient holding and dispensing assemblies comprises a container with the dispenser and a screw conveyor, adapted to controllably move fluent solid ingredients in the container towards the dispenser, wherein the screw conveyor comprises two helically bladed screws: a central screw and a peripheral screw, the peripheral screw located around the central screw, both screws having the same rotational axis; wherein the helical blades of the screws have opposite directions; a rotational shaft of both screws is provided with engagement means designed to be releasably engaged with the rotary drive of the end of arm tool. 
     
     
         13 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein a subset of the plurality of ingredient holding and dispensing assemblies comprises a container and a peristaltic pump, which drive is designed to be releasably engaged with the rotary drive of the end of arm tool; wherein each container ( 21 ″) is designed to allow the gripper to grip and releasably fix the container, as well as to remove it from its storage location and return it back to the storage location. 
     
     
         14 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the container is designed to accommodate a replaceable sealed receptacle operably connected with the peristaltic pump and the dispenser by means of flexible pipe. 
     
     
         15 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the cooking receptacle comprises a pot for holding ingredients, one or more heaters for induction heating the pot and rotating means for rotating the pot about two or more rotational axis, wherein the pot is further provided with one or two fins adapted to be rotated inside the pot in order to ensure uniform stirring of food ingredients in the pot, wherein the cooking receptacle is designed to controllably rotate the fins in the direction, which is opposite to the direction of rotation of the pot. 
     
     
         16 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the tray is designed to have two parallel substantially vertical walls and two substantially inclined walls; where the two inclined walls, together with the tray's bottom form an arc, preferably a parabolic arc. 
     
     
         17 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the cleaning subsystem is adapted to clean the cooking receptacle and a subsystem is adapted to clean the tray, wherein the subsystem is designed in the form of a closed bath, having openings adapted to receive the tray, the bath comprising a washing nozzle operably fixed to a pump and means for moving the washing nozzle, wherein the means for moving the washing nozzle are provided with the engagement means, which are the same as the engagement means of a plurality of the containers, where the means for moving the washing nozzle are designed to be driven by the rotary drive. 
     
     
         18 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the tray is further provided with gripping area, adapted to be gripped by the gripper, where the gripping area is in the form of two horizontal bars fixed to the upper part of the parallel substantially vertical walls, where the horizontal bars are provided with engagement means for engaging with the gripper. 
     
     
         19 . The robotic cooking system according to  claim 11 , wherein the end of arm tool further comprising one or more load cells, adapted to provide a representation of a load on the gripper, the gripper being directly or indirectly associated with said plurality of load cells.