Revolution, said Mao Zedong, is not a dinner party. Maybe so. But that doesn’t mean that when the revolution comes, there won’t be food involved.
This week in Tokyo, to a huge visiting throng from Asia’s food production industry, artificial intelligence and robots set out their plans to seize control.
Technological advances made over just the past few years, claim the robots’ human advocates, have given them something they always lacked: smart, soft and spatially aware hands. These are working hands for packers that will come first for the cooked spaghetti and steamed dumplings; then for the fried chicken, frangible biscuits and broiled salmon onigiri rice balls.