Robot frying, is it really reliable?

With the development of automation and intelligent technology and its wide application, robots from the initial only in the industrial field, began to gradually penetrate into a variety of service industries, the market in the past decade a variety of large and small Chinese food frying robots, the developers of these products, trying to frying robots for the catering industry empowerment, or for the family to bring more convenience to the cooking user.

But today, whether in the restaurant stores, or in the family kitchen, we are still difficult to see the fried food robot "figure", the existing fried food robot function and experience from the market demand is still a certain distance.

Is it possible to use a robot to fry food? What problems can it solve? Why can't existing products meet market demand? What direction should the frying robot develop? This article examines the current market on the basis of various types of frying robot products, these issues of concern to everyone to do a comprehensive analysis and sorting.

01 Chinese cooking is actually very complex!

1. What is cooking?

"Cook" means to boil, and "cook" means to cook. Cooking is: cooking, cooking, boiling food.

Generally speaking, cooking is a thermal processing of food materials, raw food materials processed mature food; specifically, cooking refers to a reasonable selection of food materials deployment, processing and treatment of clean, heated and seasoned, so that it becomes color, aroma, taste, shape, texture, and nourish the beauty of the safe and harmless, conducive to the absorption of the beneficial health of the people, and the strong physical condition of the meal dishes, including both seasoned cooked food, but also includes the preparation of raw food. The name of the company was not used in this context.

2. Types of Chinese cooking techniques

In the thousands of years of development of Chinese civilization, Chinese cooking has produced a lot of cooking methods, initially summarized in the following different ways:

(1) the use of oil to transfer heat: frying, pan-frying, sticking, cooking, deep-frying, buttery, stirring, etc.

(2) the use of oil to transfer heat: frying, pan-frying, sticking, cooking, deep-frying, stirring.

(2) after frying water heat transfer: boiling, braising, simmering, burning, steak and so on.

(3) water heat transfer: blanching, shabu-shabu, boiling, stewing, simmering, warming and so on.

(4) steam heat transfer: steaming, preserved and so on.

(5) Other: brine, sauce, smoke, grill, chili, marinade, mixing, plucking, baking and so on.

3 . Chinese stir fry and process

In the above many Chinese cooking methods, stir fry is the most used way, accounting for more than 80% of home cooking dishes, accounting for more than 60% of restaurant cooking dishes. Stir-frying is also the fastest, most flavorful and nutritious way of cooking. But because of the fried food requirements burst fire quickly fried, the cooking skills required is also the highest.

Chinese fried food process is divided into the following main parts:

(1) material preparation. Cooking starts with raw materials, also known as ingredients. Good cooking requires fresh, high-quality ingredients. Preparation of ingredients includes selection (selection), washing (cleaning), cutting (knife work), matching (ratio), and some also need to be pre-prepared, such as marinating, foaming, oil, water, etc. in advance.

(2) oil, seasoning, thickening liquid preparation. To choose the appropriate cooking oil, a variety of seasonings (such as: salt, sugar, pepper, pepper, five-spice powder, dashi f, thirteen spices, cooking wine, soy sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, soybean paste, ketchup, sweet noodle sauce, and so on), these are an indispensable part of the frying out of the delicious.

(3) cooking and frying preparation. It is to have the infrastructure for frying, first of all, to choose the right heat source (gas stove or electric heating stove), to be able to produce a strong enough fire, so that the temperature in the frying pan can reach a fairly high temperature. The next step is to choose the right wok, with good thermal conductivity, even heat distribution and the right weight. Then comes the cook's control of the fire (temperature).

(4) cooking and frying process. The chef decides the order and time to put the oil, ingredients and seasonings according to the judgment of the temperature change and the requirements of the recipe. And then by turning the spoon, scraping shovel (scratching, turning, pressure stirring, etc.), moving the pot, adjusting the fire, so that the ingredients in the pot evenly heated, rapid maturation, so as to complete the cooking of the dishes. Some dishes require step-by-step cooking, but also do some temporary storage turnover processing. Finally, to achieve the dishes mature but not cooked, there is a pot of gas and not paste the pot, some dishes in the pot also through the thickening to make the dishes into a bright color.

(5) dishes out of the pot, plating and plating.

(6) pots and pans, kitchen utensils and cleaning of the operating environment.

Chinese fried food corresponding to the technology mainly includes: (1) knife technology; (2) feeding technology; (3) control of fire technology; (4) sizing, hanging paste, thickening, splashing juice and other technologies; (5) seasoning time and number of mastery of technology; (6) upside down, scraping shovel stir-frying technology; (7) plating and plating technology, and so on.

Chinese small fry "pot gas" is the fried dishes become the basis of mainstream dishes, but also fried dishes are popular as the main reason.

4. The main factors affecting the quality of Chinese fried dishes

(1) the selection of ingredients; good ingredients is the basis for cooking delicious.

(2) the knife work of the ingredients; knife work affects the speed of maturation of the ingredients, affecting the taste and appearance of diners.

(3) the ingredients of the preparation; affect the ingredients of the flavor and maturity time.

(4) cooking action and fire control (heat source, pots and pans, scraping spatula, spoon movement, etc.); is the most critical part of cooking, affecting the uniformity of the heat of the ingredients and the maturity of the dish speed and degree.

(5) ingredients and seasonings put order, quantity and timing: affect the flavor of the dishes and human nutrition and health.

Chinese dishes pay attention to cooking, "cooking" embodied in the control of the fire, and "tuning" is the reasonable use of seasonings. "Fire" is the most difficult and important factor in Chinese cuisine.

02 Why do we need a frying robot?

1. What is a robot

A robot is an intelligent machine that can work semi-autonomously or fully autonomously, with basic features such as perception, decision-making, and execution, and can assist or even replace humans to complete dangerous, heavy, complex, and repetitive tasks, improve efficiency, and ensure quality standards. Ensure quality standards, serve human life, expand or extend the scope of human activities and capabilities.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines a robot as a machine that can be programmed and automatically controlled to perform tasks such as operations or movement.

Robots were born in the middle of the last century, and were mainly used in the industrial sector in the first few decades, and only gradually entered the service industry from the beginning of this century, such as sweeping robots, handling robots, welcoming robots, fire-fighting robots, patrolling robots, surgical robots, and companion robots, and so on. With the accelerated aging of the population and the change of the young generation's concept of choosing a career, robots will be more and more applied to all aspects of human life.

2. Problems to be solved by stir-fry robots

Stir-frying is a relatively complex technique in Chinese cooking skills, and it is also called the most complex in the world of cooking skills. Therefore, Chinese stir-fry cooks are required to study and practice with masters in specialized culinary schools for a long time.

Chinese fried food is also physical work, the chef has to be in a smoky environment, every day with the pot, spatula, stove, stove and oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and all kinds of ingredients, most of the chef's daily work is monotonous and repetitive, lack of challenge, it is easy to lead to occupational fatigue.

Therefore, since the beginning of this century there have been continuous attempts to invent and design frying robots. Some have been considered from the perspective of commercial applications in the restaurant industry, while others have been considered from a domestic perspective. Stir-fry robots try to solve the following problems:

Commercial

(1) to solve the problem of replacing restaurant chefs (and cooks). Its main consideration is to solve the problem of difficult to recruit chefs, difficult to manage chefs and the growing cost of chef labor.

(2) to solve the problem of the stability of the quality of fried food (the consistency of the output problem), especially chain restaurants.

(3) to solve the problem of frequent changes in the variety of dishes in the restaurant (to adapt to the needs of customers often changing tastes).

(4) to solve the standardization and intelligence of the industry, to achieve industrial upgrading in the digital era, to improve the efficiency and quality of catering services, to reduce overall operating costs, and to enhance profitability. Greatly improve the ability of chain restaurant enterprises to control the stores.

(5) through the frying robot close to the user end of the present frying, enhance the user taste experience, to make up for the existing by the central kitchen to produce meal boxes to the terminal reheat prefabricated meal supply mode resulting in taste, quality, nutrition and other aspects of the loss.

(6) Through cooperation with the food supply chain to reduce comprehensive operating costs, reduce store labor and back kitchen area, improve store operational efficiency, improve overall profitability.

Household

(1) To solve the problem that most people do not know how to fry, do not want to fry and do not have time to fry.

(2) To open up the interface between home catering and the supply chain of ingredients, eliminating the need to buy, wash, cut and other related tedious housework.

(3) You can enjoy a better dining experience at home, with chef quality, rich variety, safety and reliability, and nutritional options.

(4) The taste, nutrition, and hygiene of ready-to-eat dishes are significantly better than takeout fast food.

03 How does a frying robot work?

1. The design idea of the frying robot

The frying robot mainly solves the work in the cooking stage, which basically covers the following aspects:

(1) The control of the pot and its heating. The shape and size of the pot, the material of the pot (whether or not to add Teflon coating), the choice of heat source, the control of the heating temperature.

(2) Ingredients feeding method and control. The shape of the food box and filling method, whether sealed? How to realize the separate feeding? Once cast a dish of ingredients, or more than one dish of ingredients?

(3) The way and control of oil, water and seasoning feeding. Condiment status (powder, liquid, sauce, thickening sauce, etc.), containers, and dosing controls.

(4) Ingredients in the pot turn over, scattered means and control. Means to realize the flip and control.

(5) Turnover of ingredients required for step-by-step cooking techniques. Imitate the chef's step-by-step cooking technique.

(6) After the completion of cooking dishes on the plate. Whether or not it can be automatically loaded and discharged.

(7) cleaning after cooking. Including the pot body cleaning, and related parts and area cleaning.

(8) Cooking process smoke treatment.

(9) Other auxiliary facilities. Such as oil pre-heating, water heating (cleaning), oil recovery (oil recovery and reuse), cleaning sewage and residue treatment, dish box refrigeration and freshness.

(10) equipment, operating screens, control panels and communication with the management system and online ordering system.

2 . The technical route, characteristics and difficulties of the existing frying robot design

The technical route of the frying robot design has different embodiments in different stages of cooking, and the specific differences are as follows:

In terms of the pot body and the scraper:

(1) An automatic rotating scraper is added to the traditional frying pot, with some of them having a rotating scraper set up in the center of the pot, driven by a motor underneath the pot. Driven by the motor under the pot; there is a spatula set on the lid, the motor on the top of the lid, the lid can be covered by the pot body spatula rotation, play a stirring and scratching role; there are also designed as a semi-cylindrical pot, rely on the rotating stirring rod to achieve the ingredients in the pot flip. This setup is in the pot body fixed cooking, can not be compared to the chef's upside down spoon skills, spatula's role is also very limited.

(2) In the traditional frying pan added two mechanical arms, relying on mechanical arms to imitate the chef's spoon action. This approach has the disadvantages of large space occupation, noise and additional counterweight to improve the stability of the system, and at the same time in the cooking process is likely to lead to the splashing out of the ingredients in the pot.

(3) Cylindrical pots and pans with openings at the top and flat or slightly curved bottoms, some with protruding ribs. The cylinder can rotate around its center axis, or it can be turned over in a vertical plane, turning upward or downward when feeding and discharging, maintaining a slanting upward angle of rotation when stir-frying, and relying on the bottom prongs to achieve limited turning of ingredients in the wok body in the process of rotation.

Because there is no spatula design, the cleaning of the cylinder wok depends on the flow of water and the Teflon coating inside the wok, which produces harmful substances when the temperature is too high, so the temperature of this wok is usually limited to less than 260 degrees, which is not able to support the dishes that need to be stir-fried at a higher temperature.

(4) Kettle-shaped wok. This pot body is actually equivalent to the integration of traditional wok and cylindrical pot body, kettle in the rotation of the cylindrical pot body, can change the acceleration of rotation and produce a sharp stop throwing (equivalent to the chef upside down spoon) effect, in its oblique position, the throwing surface is like the traditional wok, so that the ingredients can be laid out, evenly heated. The kettle-shaped pan can also be equipped with an in-and-out spatula, which aids in turning and spreading during cooking, as well as cleaning the pan after cooking. Because of the spatula, there is no need to use Teflon coating inside the kettle body, allowing for the high heat of a chef's stir-fry.

The above pots and pans are now basically using inductive coils around the induction heating, which has the advantage of precise control and regulation of temperature.

The pot and spatula part of the frying robot is the key factor in regulating the cooking "fire", and is the basis for determining the quality and efficiency of cooking.

Input of ingredients

(1) At present, there are two types of input of ingredients: manual input and automatic input, and the automatic input is divided into split type and integrated type. The so-called split-type feeding, food material box and equipment is not integrated into one, put by the external mechanical device, the material box of ingredients into the pot body in stages. The integrated material feeding, is the material box into the equipment, relying on the equipment's own institutions, to complete such as tearing the film, open the lid, dumping and other actions.

(2) At present, most of the ingredients are put into a material box at a time, only cooking a dish to use. Recently, there has been a set of multiple boxes for continuous cooking of multiple dishes, making it possible for the frying robot to realize continuous automatic cooking without human intervention.

Seasoning

Seasoning is complicated because Chinese food has a wide variety of seasonings, and they are usually put in at different stages of cooking (after the oil is heated up, during the cooking process, and before the wok is ready). While there are a variety of complex seasoning packets available, they do not deliver the flavor that traditional cooking techniques can achieve in stir-frying.

Seasoning in addition to the variety, but also because of its different forms, easy to lead in the storage, output, metering control, anti-caking, anti-arching, anti-sedimentation, anti-clogging, pipeline cleaning and other aspects of the problem. Seasoning if you can not achieve relatively accurate quantitative placement, will directly affect the taste of the dishes and quality stability.

At present, some frying robots all use liquid seasoning (salt, sugar and other powdered into brine and sugar water), and some take part of the liquid seasoning plus seasoning packets (usually seasoning packets are placed in the dish box, and the last put into the ingredients together). There are also through the innovative design to solve all the powder, liquid, sauce and thickening liquid put, can support all put with the chef to maintain the same level, so that you can fry a richer variety of dishes.

The frying robot comes with a seasoning delivery system that also supports personalized selection and customization of flavors based on the user's taste preferences.

Loading and Dispensing

Currently, most of the frying robots are at the end of the cooking or near the end of the manual release of the plate, and then the frying pan (cylinder) flip, the dishes into the plate, some need to manually use a spatula and other tools to assist in picking up.

There is also the use of disk storage to store a number of plates, to be cooking is about to end, through the equipment within the mechanical arm will be the top of the plate to move to the bottom of the mouth of the dishes, the pan automatically turned over the dishes all poured into. Loaded plate dish and then through the mechanical arm automatically launched, for users to complete the self-service pickup.

Cleaning

(1) The cleaning of the pot body is generally used in high-pressure water cleaning, for the coated pot body, each time after cooking immediately after cleaning, basically does not affect the cooking of the next dish. However, if the paste pot or thickening and other viscous substances, only by water flow cleaning is not necessarily able to clean thoroughly.

(2) Some pots and pans are equipped with a spatula, and the spatula can form a line of contact with the interior of the pot, which can be cleaned with high-pressure water flow, effectively solving the problem of burnt and sticky substances that can't be washed away.

(3) In addition to the cleaning of the interior of the pot body, but also involves the cleaning of other parts of the cooking environment, such as the dish box feeding area, loading area, etc., most of these areas are in a unit of the completion of the cooking task, cleaned up by hand. There are also through the closure of different areas, plus high-pressure water jets to achieve automatic cleaning.

(4) Seasoning pipeline there is also the problem of cleaning, if not cleaned for a long time will lead to stay in the pipeline material deterioration, or powdered seasoning moisture caking affects the amount of control or even complete failure.

(5) the treatment of waste water and waste residue after cleaning. Wastewater generally flows directly into the sewer, while the waste residue is filtered and cleaned manually after each unit's cooking task is completed.

Smoke treatment

Smoke is inevitable in Chinese cooking, the current frying robot itself does not have an effective smoke purification settings, usually with the help of a range hood, through the flue out of the outside before processing. The difference is that some devices do not have a closed cooking section, which can lead to the dispersion of fumes on the outside. Some devices, however, have an internal housing design that allows the fumes to be enclosed within the housing and sucked up all by the extraction facility.

Operation screen and control part

Most of the stir-frying robots are set up with an operation touch screen, which is used for intuitive recipe selection and some selective operation functions related to power, flavor, etc., and at the same time, it displays the content of the dish, images, cooking time progress, and other information.

The control system of the frying robot has a dedicated control board, but also PLC control.

Some stir-fry robots can be connected to the system or cell phone through WiFi or Bluetooth modules to realize remote control or user self-service operation.

Other auxiliary design

(1) turnover (temporary storage) device for the realization of step-by-step cooking techniques, such as in the shredded meat cooking close to maturity, the first through the turnover mechanism to the side of the temporary storage, the equipment continues to feed cooking other ingredients, and finally pour the shredded meat back into the pot body, with other ingredients to achieve the final maturity, out of the pot.

(2) Oil pre-heating system. It can reduce the time of waiting for cold oil to warm up in the pot during continuous cooking, and start the cooking of ingredients immediately. It can significantly improve the cooking efficiency and complete the cooking quickly.

(3) Heated water system. It can support cleaning the equipment with hot water, which is easy to clean off the oil quickly, as well as to keep the temperature of the pot after cleaning in the continuous cooking process.

(4) Refrigerator module. For the need of refrigeration and freshness in the area of the ingredient box, suitable for a time to put a number of groups of vegetable boxes, in a unit of time period of continuous cooking, to ensure the freshness of the ingredients in the vegetable box.

To summarize, the difficulty of Chinese food frying robots is not whether they can fry cooked food, but whether they can fry cooking quality comparable to professional chefs, whether they can reach and exceed the efficiency of professional chefs, whether they can achieve the effect of completely replacing manual labor, and whether they can make the overall operating costs significantly lower in cooperation with the food supply chain (delivery of food box preparation).

3. Types and features of existing stir-fry robots

Classified by cooking pots, they can be divided into three types: woks plus rotating spatulas, rotating barrel stir-fry robots, and rotating kettle stir-fry robots.

According to the amount of cooking portion per serving, it can be categorized into: single-serving machine, medium-serving machine and large-serving machine. Single-serving machines are suitable for meals with 1 to 2 people; medium-serving machines are suitable for unit group meals, a share can be shared by 10-15 people; large-serving machines are often used in central kitchens, mainly used for large quantities of boxed lunches when the side dishes are made.

According to the object of service users, it can be divided into: household type (including community, convenience stores), commercial fast food type, commercial group meal type, commercial central kitchen type.

- Home type cooking a small portion at a time, for one person to eat or two people to share, the robot size is smaller, can be placed on the countertop, single dish box drop, single dish cooking.

--Commercial fast food type can cook 1-3 single servings at a time, can be used in all kinds of social catering stores. Some of the equipment can realize multi-carton drop-off, continuous automatic cooking, and provide self-service pickup.

-- Commercial group meal type can cook 10-15 portions at a time (a large and medium plate), which can be used for group meals in a variety of forms of food, such as sharing, self-selected food.

-- Commercial central kitchen type, dedicated to the central kitchen for the production of boxed lunch side dishes, each time cooking dozens of kilograms of dishes. Quality can not be compared to the small fried dishes. (Because it is a specialized equipment, this article will not be discussed in detail.)

From the cooking quality point of view, the quality of a single portion of the dish is the best, because the heat is concentrated and uniform, fast heating, fast maturation. Of course, it is also closely related to the heating temperature of the pot and the type of seasoning.

Due to space constraints, this article only describes half of the content of the whole article, the next dry goods will be the main statement of the following core content: frying robot can be used in where? The next part of the article will focus on the following core elements: where can the robot be used? The robot really needs to be "reliable", the robot needs to be supported by the supply chain of ingredients, and the robot has a promising future!