If you haven’t seen the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi yet, it’s a fascinating look at the man behind the best sushi restaurant in the world, Jiro Ono, and his obsessive drive to continue to improve his craft, and stay one step ahead of the machines that might one day steal his job. Although he probably doesn’t know about his robot rivals yet.
Kawasaki recently opened a robotics showroom because of course you want to take a bot for a test drive before you spend tens of thousands of dollars on it. And one of the demonstrations showing how adept the company’s robotic arms are had a pair of them making fresh sushi.
Is it time for Jiro to finally retire? Not quite yet. These robots appear to be simply assembling the sushi components. And wasabi from a tube? Jiro would never stand for that at Sukiyabashi Jiro. But it’s a start, and one day you might have an appliance in your kitchen that makes Michelin three-star sushi, instead of you having to settle for grocery store sushi because you’re too tired to cook.
[YouTube via IEEE Spectrum]