Rotibot

For the last few years, Ingen Robotics has been working on an interesting product. I am happy to show you a quick preview of the sixth prototype of Rotibot.

The best part of Rotibot is its design. The entire path that flour and dough travels within the appliance is visible, and accessible. Flour falls straight from the container to the mixer/kneader, and from there to the 'landing pad'. The roti ejector not only pushes the cooked roti out, but also pushes the dough ball to the middle of the hot plates. The same hot plates are used to press the roti as well as to bake it. Surfaces that come into contact with dough are kept to a minimum, so that it is easy to clean quickly. All you need is a damp cloth, no special tools required.

Our key design goals were usability and simplicity. Rotibot can be used by anyone who can use a regular kitchen mixer. There is only one knob, turn it to increase/decrease number of rotis to make, and push it to start/stop. The mixer/kneader base and cover are are similar to that of a kitchen mixer, so handling it is intuitive and easy.

A similar design approach was used on the technical side as well, even though significant design effort was required. For example Rotibot uses only six actuators. Other design challenges were designing a straight (as opposed to inverted) and simple mixer without a mechanical lid. And a press that could press and bake, and still produce quality rotis.

I would like to hear your views on Rotibot. Can it help improve the quality of our lives?

in the next article - The making of Rotibot - I will write about how Rotibot came to life.