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Thursday 19 January 2012

Fridge of the future

After the introduction of SOPA and PIPA yesterday and the subsequent blackout of Wikipedia and certain other websites which i won't mention ;) , heres something to cool down with. Wheyyyyy, cheesy.


Revealed: The hi-tech fridge of the future that will tell you what to have for dinner


A fridge of the future that tells you what to cook with your left-overs and automatically re-orders fresh food is being designed in the UK.

The self-cleaning 'fridge of the future' will automatically place supermarket home delivery orders when required and move food near its use by date to the front of the shelves.

Researchers hope the fridge could clean itself, cut down on wasted food and offer up recipes - which could be tailored to different countries, cuisines and seasons depending on whether people want to whip up something Italian or fancy a curry.


With Brits putting in 36 million hours every year of free overtime - leaving little time for household chores - the fridge could help save precious time during hectic modern-day lives.

Researchers hope the fridge could clean itself, cut down on wasted food and offer up recipes
Researchers hope the fridge could clean itself, cut down on wasted food and offer up recipes

These new developments are in the pipeline thanks to collaborations between scientists at the University of Central Lancashire and online supermarket Ocado.

The planned new features include the ability for fridges to scan their shelves to see what is in stock and use this information to both plan meals and automatically place a supermarket food order - with Ocado saying they could be hooked up to their website making grocery requests even simpler.

The smart fridge will use 'nano-articulated technology' shelf surfaces which, whilst smooth to the touch, will have millions of independently controlled micro-tiles which will manoeuvre products which soon need to be eaten to the front of the fridge.

The fridge will also monitor gases released by degrading foods and push these to the front of its shelves, according to the collaborators.

Ultrasound-scanning technology built into the door will allow the fridge to 'swipe and capture' the food on a plate before and after mealtime, meaning it can assess what type and amount of food is wasted.

Similar technological advances in the kitchen bin, with its own management system, would allow it to be linked to the fridge giving a more accurate measure of how much and what kinds of food are thrown out rather than eaten.
The fridge of the future would then be able to cross reference and act on this data - reducing the ingredients used in future meal suggestions and helping to minimise food waste.

Dr Simon Somerville, a future forecasting expert from the University of Central Lancashire, said that someone feeling lazy could use the proposed fridge to whip up a recipe for them.

He said: 'Cookbooks are essentially inventory lists of food items. To this end the most available information that the refrigerator will have is a set of permutations that allow a set number of ingredients to produce a large number of quite different dishes.

'The key concept in the successful implementation of this process is accurate inventory tracking.

'Based on information contained within each menu, such as 'this dish is typical to the north of Italy', allows a menu selection based on geographical location - all the time the user choice is compared by the refrigerator to what it knows it holds.

'If the specific item for a recipe is not present, the refrigerator might suggest a delayed option, which allows time for delivery, or possibly attempt to find or propose a passable alternative for the missing ingredient.' 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1341190/Revealed-The-hi-tech-fridge-future-tell-dinner.html#ixzz1juHeH2cA


Fridge of the Future


Designed for urban environments the Bio Robot Fridge fuses beauty and power in an unique way- the perfect product for a future kitchen. Unlike, other fridges, the Bio Robot Fridge has no doors or shelves; all items are preserved in a gel.



Built to compete in the Electrolux Design Lab Competetion, the fridge is extremely innovative. The appliance can be mounted vertically or horizontally. The fridge contains no motor or any other usual components- food is preserved in a morphing gel which retains the food at the required temperature. The loss of usual components results in the fridge being much smaller- 4 times smaller than the average fridge. Additionally, since the fridge consists almost completely of gel, 90% of the fridge is usable space. A future fridge for today's food.



The Gel has a sticky appearance, but in reality leaves no trace on the food- all products inserted into the fridge remain healthy. The strong grip provided by the gel allows it to hold a variety of products firmly and safely. Green food such as fruits and vegetables are ideal for this product- green food for a green product.


The aesthetics of the fridge are stunning- the appliance has a sleek unique look- contrasting the usual clunky fridges of today. This along with similar green appliances could shape the future of food.

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