Robot chef whips up delicacies we wouldn't dare touch

Nonhuman chefs are far from extraordinary, but the latest culinary guru crafted in Japan has a taste for the extreme. Reportedly, the EZ Order Robot was spotted in Osaka whipping up octopus balls (of all things), but apparently, the creature was able to concoct the dish totally from scratch. Interestingly, the demonstration wasn't really established to showcase its kitchen prowess, but rather to highlight other capabilities such as speech recognition and the ability to perform routine tasks without human intervention. Click here for the video, but remember, we're not responsible for ruining your appetite.

[Via Live Science]

[mushrooshi @ Feb 17th 2008 6:10AM]

But will it blend?

[Kizorblade @ Feb 17th 2008 6:50AM]

No way. This thing does the blending.

[Romesh @ Feb 17th 2008 6:16AM]

You do realise of course, that 'octopus balls' are actually just a little piece of octopus (nothing special) in a ball of fried dough, to make a round ball-shaped dumpling...perhaps not what the phase 'octopus balls' suggests, but rather more appetising

[Kaminix @ Feb 17th 2008 6:36AM]

Also, it's an extremely common and quite easy-to-do dish in Japan, so it's not a very strange choice of food.

[Adoniteking @ Feb 17th 2008 7:43AM]

Octopus have BALLS! how many?...8?!
i cant imagine what intercourse would be like especially for the females


*couldnt resist the ball-joke* :)

[lettcco @ Feb 18th 2008 12:46PM]

engadget you made it sounds like it was some disgusting food. it's call Takoyaki, look it up.

[Zhalfim Deyn @ Feb 17th 2008 6:38AM]

I wonder how this would fair against Elzar...?

@Romesh - thanks for killing the hilarity of "octopus balls" man...

[Zhalfim Deyn @ Feb 17th 2008 9:53AM]

@Romesh

I so stand corrected (and thus apologize)...I didn't realize that EVERYONE was going to bother explaining what octopus balls are (for the record I love them)...

[Snakuza @ Feb 17th 2008 6:54AM]

Takoyaki or grilled octopus are absolutely delicious (if made right) and as Romesh says have nothing to do with octopus testicles... if it actually has any. They are an Osaka specialty and virtually impossible to find in the US, or at least in California... which is kind of annoying.

[Onetruebill @ Feb 17th 2008 7:04PM]

@Snakuza
just to clear up a few points.

They are an Osaka specialty and virtually impossible to find in the US, or at least in California... which is kind of annoying.

1. At least some of us in the US are relieved by the lack of ready to buy Octopus balls.

2. California is ALWAYS annoying.

[Anthrogirl @ May 7th 2008 6:48PM]

Come to NYC, then. In the East Village, we have several restaurants that serve yakisoba, okonomiyaki and takoyaki.The stand on 9th Street is the best, though, and you can get combos to take home!

[James Yopp @ Feb 17th 2008 7:04AM]

Hey! Takoyaki (たこ焼き, fried octopus nuggets) is delicious. Get down off your high horse. You can buy that stuff anywhere in Japan, from street-side vendors to the 7-11. It's kind of like hot dogs in the US. They come out as little balls with a tough skin, gooey on the inside, and with strips of octopus meat tangled throughout. Typically, you cover them in mayonnaise and sprinkle them with bonito flakes and maybe add some herbs and teriyaki sauce.

In any case, it's an extremely common food. "Extreme", my foot.

[Vagrant @ Feb 17th 2008 7:05AM]

I love takoyaki, but is that thing putting nori on there, or bonito flakes? I prefer bonito with a little mayonnaise on the side. Seriously though, Osaka? I'm just 30 minutes away in Kyoto, but does it really compare with the stand you'll find outside a major temple? With the grill all greased up and a friendly vendor, who's got a cold beer to go with with it, and understands that you don't want sauce on your octopus?

I'm fine with the machines outside where you pay first and get your ticket for your food of choice and even the coffee machines that have a video screen, so you can watch it being ground and poured into your cup, but call me old fashioned, I still like the interaction of patron and vendor.

[Reverence @ Feb 17th 2008 7:15AM]

Does anyone else hate it when someone starts talking about octopus balls while you're having breakfast?

[Raheem @ Feb 17th 2008 7:28AM]

It happens WAY too often :(

[Apple Mac Bon Jovi Aerosmith Ipod -Unicorn Tears- ilife forever @ Feb 17th 2008 7:11AM]

mmm... takoyaki! yeah, it spill quite a lot but tokayaki is sooo good, I would eat them without an hesitation!

im writing this from Osaka... the human made takoyaki kingdom!

[Apple Mac Bon Jovi Aerosmith Ipod -Unicorn Tears- ilife forever @ Feb 17th 2008 7:12AM]

weird we cant see any comments... engadget always broken... snif!

[ThinkMark @ Feb 17th 2008 7:23AM]

Hey, Engadget, just wanted to say thanks very much for making it easy for us Mac users to watch the .wmv video.....

ThinkMark

[Ian @ Feb 17th 2008 6:42PM]

hey i have a mac and i watched it fine... looks like someone doesnt know about flip4mac. makes .wmv work great in quicktime

[ThinkMark @ Feb 17th 2008 7:24AM]

Hey, Engadget, just wanted to say thanks very much for making it easy
for us Mac users to watch the .wmv video.....

ThinkMark

[Zeus.:God @ Feb 17th 2008 7:52AM]

Hey, ThinkMark, I appreciate it how easy you make it to not comment on the topic at hand.

[Wwhat @ Feb 17th 2008 4:04PM]

Oh engadget annexed japan and runs it now? I guess I should watch the news more often.

[ecobore @ Feb 17th 2008 7:39AM]

And I didn't even know that octopuses HAD balls!

Oh, and by the way if you want to watch the horrible .wmv on you Mac go to http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/flip4mac.mspx and download the free flip4mac - works a treat for me!

[webon @ Feb 17th 2008 8:04AM]

17 comments?
where?

[Thomas @ Feb 17th 2008 8:13AM]

?

While those aren't the best takoyaki I've ever seen, I don't know why it would make me lose my appetite...

[Jason_T @ Feb 17th 2008 8:15AM]

The dish is called Taco Yaki and it is the bomb! This robot, however, has mutilated what is otherwise a fairly interesting dish to watch cooked. The human variety of chef will pour the egg batter into the cast iron egg crate and then add the piece of taco (i.e. octopus) and using two sticks start twirling the mixture in the egg crate until a perfect little ball of yummy goodness is perfectly golden in color. The vendor serves up the taco yaki with your choice of toppings; but let me suggest brown sauce, mayonnaise, and fish flakes for the perfect Japanese fast food meal.

[OmegaX123 @ Feb 17th 2008 4:41PM]

Takoyaki/tako, not 'taco' (which is a Mexican dish consisting of bround beef, usually tomato and onion, occasionally sour cream, and sometimes a salsa or a hot sauce, on a tortilla shell).

[OmegaX @ Feb 17th 2008 4:42PM]

@my last comment: 'ground' beef, even.

[webon @ Feb 17th 2008 8:35AM]

octopus balls are quite popular here in japan, I really don't lik'em but if a robot is cooking Ill have to try some

[Dave @ Feb 17th 2008 8:38AM]

Oh, man, don't bag on the tako-yaki! It's good stuff! You barely notice the octopus, anyway - just think of it as the chewy center. I lived off that stuff.

[Pauly @ Feb 17th 2008 8:43AM]

This is similar to the chef robot created by Chinese professor Liu Changfa.

http://www.robotliving.com/2007/09/12/the-real-iron-chef/

Doesn't really make me hungry. How can they taste it to see if it is seasoned correctly?

[Simon @ Feb 17th 2008 8:58AM]

WOW!

A takoyaki making robot!

That'll take the fun out of takoyaki parties though...

[Apple Mac Bon Jovi Aerosmith Ipod -Unicorn Tears- ilife forever @ Feb 17th 2008 10:14AM]

hehe... lots of takoyaki lovers here on engadget! to all of you I raise my hat!

to ThinkMark; it would be fun too if apple would let us watch quicktime movies on anything else than safari without crashing... oh, but maybe safari crash too, dont know! You can watch wmv on apple, just google it!

[monkfishbandana @ Feb 17th 2008 11:04AM]

I watch Quicktime movies on Opera and Firefox with no problems at all; what browser are you using?

[Apple Mac Bon Jovi Aerosmith Ipod -Unicorn Tears- ilife forever @ Feb 17th 2008 8:30PM]

Firefox... really? what version of QT are you using? firefox crash with quicktime for the vast majority of users. me im using 7.1 cause 7.4 was killing After Effects render until last week... maybe its time to get it now.

[dafzuka @ Feb 17th 2008 11:39AM]

I agree, takoyaki is the bomb (almost as good as okonomiyaki - Hiroshima style, of course) and I wouldn't hesitate to eat the ones in the video. I don't think the robot was sprinkling aonori on it because the tops would turn green (which is actually the way I prefer it) so it's probably katuobushi (bonito, fish flakes, whatever you want to call it). At any rate, the robot wasn't very good a "sprinkling" at all.

@ the paranoid Engadget guys: at least when our soon-to-be robot overlords are taking over the world they'll be feeding us! It could be worse.

[[ W ] @ Feb 17th 2008 11:48AM]

I guess you all already know that it's actually not octopus testicles, but it's called Octopus Ball because it's made from octopus rolled up in a ball shape, kinda like meat ball.

[[ W ] @ Feb 17th 2008 11:48AM]

I guess you all already know that it's actually not octopus testicles, but it's called Octopus Ball because it's made from octopus rolled up in a ball shape, kinda like meat ball.

[[W] @ Feb 17th 2008 11:49AM]

Oops, sorry for the duplicate on the last comment.

[abross86 @ Feb 17th 2008 12:57PM]

Robots cannot cook. Has Futurama taught us nothing?!

[Joey @ Feb 17th 2008 1:57PM]

Judging by all the comments about Takoyaki it shows that the readers of engadget are more open to other types of fast foods that the writers of engadget. Sorry not all fast food involves running to the border, finger lickin good or having your burger your way. :)

[Wwhat @ Feb 17th 2008 4:00PM]

I can understand that there was a time the japs were forced to eat all the junk of the sea because they were an island, but why do they keep it up now that they don't have to I wonder, geez.

[kev @ Feb 17th 2008 10:42PM]

It's stupidity like this that was made possible, thanks to America Online.

[Wwhat @ Feb 19th 2008 8:50AM]

Never had AOL, and I'm not american, and how is it stupid? squid is rubber-like, and it's not pleasant even though some try to impress us here by pretending they are so exotic and debonair that they like it.

Still, it's better the japs eat squid than their other diet of whale and dolphin I guess.

[tarbot @ Feb 17th 2008 4:22PM]

Is it just me, or does that controller look like a massive gameboy?

[Brian @ Mar 18th 2008 4:49PM]

Try losing that remote...

[David @ Feb 17th 2008 8:07PM]

If you've played Katamari Damacy you've picked up Takoyaki and maybe even the Takoyaki Hotplate!

[tekdemon @ Feb 18th 2008 7:46PM]

Seriously if they could figure out how to integrate a refrigeration unit that could keep a number of basic ingredients fresh and in the right amounts...then give it a decent menu I'd be crazy happy. No, not because I'm too lazy to cook, but I've spent so much time cooking lately I ended up having to study like 20 hours in a row yesterday (sadly, not an exaggeration).

[Saxon @ Feb 19th 2008 11:12AM]

"I personalized each of your meals. For example, Amy, you're cute, so I baked
you a pony!"