Calistoga Health Foods

Health Food Advice Robot
NEC has announced the world's first "tasting" robot. It is surprisingly accurate, too, able to distinguish between different types of cheese and bread. My taste buds work fine, and I still can't do that. Another feature of the robot is its ability to offer advice. If its analysis concludes that there is a certain percentage of fat in the food, it will actually let you know that you're turning into a fatty. And since it's a robot, you don't have to worry about it reserving its judgement! NEC System Technologies announced on the 9th that in cooperation with Mie University they have developed a personal robot capable of "tasting" foods. It is reportedly the first robot capable of judging tastes. The composition of foods is analyzed with an infrared sensor, and the robot will give advice about health and eating habits.

The "Health/Food Advice Robot" has been developed. The composition of foods is determined by an infrared sensor equipped to one of the robot's arms. The robot takes advantage of a property called "spectrum reflection ratio" (the reflection ratio of light per wavelength) of water, protein, and molecule type. The food is exposed to infrared light of varying wavelengths, which will bounce back; the robot then analyzes the spectrum of the infrared light that returns...and can thus understand what molecules are inside of the food.