Lynette Kucsma wants to sell the 21st century’s version of the microwave.The “Foodini”—an automated meal-assembly machine that creates homemade meals faster and more efficiently than human hands—is the first product by Natural Machines, Kucsma’s company.利奈特o库斯玛想买“21世纪版的微波炉”。作为他的大自然机器公司发售的第一款产品,Foodini自动化食品加工机,需要更加慢、更加高效地制作家常美食。Natural Machines is marketing the Foodini as a 3D food printer. That sort of futuristic branding may scare consumers from the supremely out-there concept. Kucsma’s not worried, though.大自然机器公司将Foodini称作一台3D食品打印机。
这种极具未来主义色彩的品牌定位也许不会咬死一批消费者,不过库斯玛并不担忧。“When people first heard about microwaves they didn’t understand the technology, but now 90% of households have microwaves,” she says. “We see the same thing happening with 3D food printing, but on a much faster scale because we adopt technology faster and the technology advances faster.”“当人们第一次听闻微波炉时,他们也不解读微波炉的技术原理,但现在90%的家庭都有微波炉,”她说道。“我们指出3D食品打印机也不会经历这样的发展历程,但人们拒绝接受3D食品打印机的速度要更快,因为现在我们使用科技的速度,以及科技进步的速度,都比以往更加慢了。
”In reality, the Foodini isn’t a 3D printer, per se. 3D printers generally run at one speed and handle a single ingredient: plastic. The Foodini is programmed similarly, but offers multiple speeds and works with numerous ingredients at the same time. The box-shaped contraption is approximately 17 inches wide, 18 inches high and clocks in at 33 pounds.实质上,Foodini并不是一台严苛意义上的3D打印机。3D打印机基本上是按照同一个速度运营的,处置的原材料也只有一种——塑料。Foodini的运营程序和3D打印机类似于,但它获取了几种有所不同的运转速度,并且可以同时处置几种原材料。
它的箱型机身约有17英寸长,18英寸低,重约33磅。Natural Machines’s first iteration of the Foodini works best for time-consuming projects like pasta, elaborately shaped breads and cookies. Users first select a recipe from the touch screen or send their own to the Internet-connected machine. They then make the individual components of the dish from scratch and put the components into Foodini’s stainless steel ingredient capsules. From there, Foodini whips up dinner.作为大自然机器公司的第一代Foodini,它最擅长于的就是做到那些较为耗时的菜,比如意大利面和必须造型的面包及饼干等。
用户首先要从触摸屏上自由选择一份菜谱,或者也可以把自己讨厌的菜谱发送到这台联网的机器上。用户只必须备好原料,并且将原料放入Foodini的不锈钢原料容器就行了,Foodini不会已完成制作过程。
If the user is making a recipe for ravioli, for instance, the Foodini prints the bottom layer of dough, the filling and the top dough layer in subsequent steps. It reduces a lengthy recipe to two minutes construction time and ensures that no one has to clean a countertop caked with leftover dough and flour.打个比方,如果用户做到的是意大利饺子,Foodini不会陆续“打印机”出有下层饺子皮、馅料和上层饺子皮。漫长的包饺子过程不会延长至2分钟,用户也不用在事后离去粘乎乎的面粉案板了。Version 1.0 can’t cook or heat food, but Kucsma expects to add those features in future Foodini models. She also anticipates food companies making ready-to-print items, so users can skip the ingredient prep stage entirely.Foodini的1.0版目前还无法烹调或冷却食物,但库斯玛想在以后的机型上加到这些功能。
库斯玛还预计,食品公司以后或将发售各种“打印机耗材”,这样一来用户就可以几乎跳过打算食材的环节。Foodini will go on sale in the mid-2015. “The demand is so high that we’re thinking about rolling out 1,000 machines for our first run,” says Kucsma. The device costs $1,300 and will be available online. Kucsma is initially targeting chefs, but says she’s also been in talks with both corporate retailers and food manufacturers (non-disclosure agreements prevent her from providing company names and details). Kucsma says the food industry is embracing the technology. “They are asking us how this will impact their market and are getting involved quite early to figure out how to get engaged with it.”Foodini将于2015年年中月上市。
库斯玛回应:“市场需求十分低,我们想首轮发售1000台机器。”每台Foodini的售价为1300美元,消费者可以从网上采购。库斯玛最初射击的目标客户是厨师,但她也回应,她目前也在与企业零售商和食品制造商展开洽谈(由于保密协议的缘故,她无法获取合作企业的名称和细节)。
库斯玛回应,食品行业十分青睐这项新技术。“他们问我们,这项技术将对市场产生什么样的影响,而且他们都在积极参与这项技术,以便搞清楚需要如何利用它。”She adds that culinary professionals see it as a tool to unlock creativity, not as their replacement. “We’re trying to reinvent food experiences, so what [Kucsma] is doing with using technology to change foods fits right into our wheelhouse,” says New York City caterer Peter Callahan, who has thrown events for President Obama and corporate clients Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch and Kate Spade. Callahan plans to purchase a Foodini—and he feels the device’s appeal extends beyond the restaurant kitchen. “[Kucsma] is pricing her machine so it can be purchased by a home cook,” he says. “I could see it being in a lot of houses.”她补足道,很多专业厨师都把它当成一种获释创新的工具,而毫无疑问它不会偷走自己的饭碗。纽约宴会美食家彼得o卡拉汉曾多次为奥巴马以及拉夫o劳伦、托里o伯奇和凯特o斯派德等企业客户获取过宴席。
他说道:“我们正在致力于完全改建食物的体验,所以库斯玛利用科技改建食物的作法,和我们的方向是一样的。”卡拉汉自己也想出售一台Foodini,他指出这台设备的吸引力并不局限在餐厅的厨房里。
“它的定价是普通家庭也能分担得起的,所以我指出它不会转入很多普通家庭。”Inventor Alex Lightman has been advising Natural Machines and sees tremendous potential for the hardware to be in any space-crunched cooking space—including airplanes. “People would want to fly on the first airline that uses it because they won’t have to have airline food,” says Lightman. “And ten years from now, if you talk about airline food as a bad thing, people will look at you strange and say that airline food is fabulous.”大自然机器公司的顾问,发明家艾利克斯o莱特曼指出,Foodini在一些烹调空间狭小的场合下享有辽阔的应用于前景——比如在飞机上。“人们可能会想搭乘第一家用于Foodini的航空公司的航班,因为这样他们就不用不吃飞机上的食物了。
10年后,如果你再说飞机上的食物难吃,人们可能会用怪异的眼神看著你,对你说道飞机上的食物只不过很爱吃啊。”Other large-scale institutions like sports stadiums, transportation hubs and school cafeterias could use it to turn their plastic-tasting offerings into something more gourmet, says Lightman. “Think about someone going to Harvard. If you’re paying that much for tuition, you don’t want to eat crap food.” (Lightman would know; he attended Harvard.莱特曼还回应,其他大型场所和机构也可以用它制作美食,来代替以往味同嚼蜡的产品,比如体育场馆、交通枢纽和学校食堂等等。“比如有人上了哈佛大学,既然你早已递了那么多学费,你认同想不吃难吃的饭。
”(这一点莱特曼一定深有体会,因为他读过哈佛。)Interestingly, Natural Machines is based in Spain. After a career working at several startups and as Microsoft’s public relations manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Kucsma followed her husband to Barcelona when he took a new job in 2009. She formed Natural Machines—and the company now has 20 employees scattered across the globe.有意思的是,大自然机器公司实质上是一家西班牙公司。库斯玛在创立该公司之前,曾多次在好几家创业公司工作过,并曾兼任过微软公司欧洲、非洲及中东地区公共关系经理。2009年,由于她的丈夫在巴赛罗那寻找了新的工作,她之后随丈夫一起搬巴赛罗那,随后创办了大自然机器公司——目前该公司在全球各地早已享有了20名员工。
Some are working for little or no pay. “To date, we’ve been bootstrapping the company,” says Kucsma. The initial $800,000 in capital has come from the founders (Kucsma started the company with its CEO Emilio Sepulveda and entrepreneurs Alex Moreu and Rosa Avellaneda) and from loans. Natural Machines has secured another $1 million in financing and is looking for an additional $5 million from investors. Later this year, Kucsma plans to relocate to Los Angeles to establish a five-person U.S. base for the operation while keeping company offices in Barcelona and China.有些员工领有的薪水很低,有些甚至是免费工作。库斯玛回应:“到目前为止,我们的发展几乎是自力更生。
”该公司80万美元启动资金主要来自创始人的投资(库斯玛与CEO埃米利奥o赛普尔韦达和企业家艾利克斯o墨利欧、罗萨o阿韦亚内达等人联合创立了这家公司)和贷款。现在,大自然机器公司早已取得了100万美元投资,并且正在企图从投资者手中再行一夜间500万美元。今年晚些时候,库斯玛想在洛杉矶开办一间5人的美国总部,同时之后在巴塞罗那和中国设置办事处。
As Kucsma envisions it, one day everyone will be able to tap a button on their smartphones when they head home to tell their Foodini to get to work. By the time the user arrives home, there will be hot, fresh ravioli—or whatever else strikes a user’s fancy—waiting. “We are a food manufacturer, shrunk down for everyone’s personal taste,” she says.在库斯玛的设想中,总有一天,当我们邻近上班时,只要在智能手机上用力一点,就可以让Foodini替你在厨房里忙活。等到用户返回家里,Foodini早已为你作好了热腾腾的饺子——或是任何需要调情用户味蕾的美食。库斯玛说道:“我们是一家食品制造商,只不过是专门针对每个人的独有口味。
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