Robot Chef Learns to Twirl (旋转) Pizza Like a Pro

Pizza has a proud history of fueling late-night lab work, and scientists in Naples—an Italian city famous for its pizza—have easy access to some of the world’s tastiest take-out. But what inspires engineer Bruno Siciliano is not that first bite     1     much as how the dish is made.

“Preparing a pizza involves an extraordinary level of agility and dexterity (敏捷和灵巧),” says Siciliano, who directs a robotics research group at the University of Naples Federico Ⅱ. Stretching a deformable object like a lump of dough (面团) requires an accurate and gentle touch. It is one of the few things humans can handle, but robots cannot—yet.

Siciliano’s team     2     (develop) a robot able to make a pizza pie. RoDyMan (short for Robotic Dynamic Manipulation) is a five-year project     3     (support) by a €2.5-million grant from the European Research Council. Like a human chef, RoDyMan must throw the dough into the air to stretch it,     4     (follow) it as it spins and anticipating how it will change shape.

RoDyMan has been working this spring toward a milestone: stretching the dough     5     tearing it. To guide the robot, Siciliano’s team asked master pizza chef Enzo Coccia to wear a suit of movement-tracking sensors. “We learn [Coccia’s] motions, and we copy them with RoDyMan,” Sciliano says.

RoDyMan uses visual sensors in its head to track the dough in real time. Using software, it can train     6     to handle the pizza like a chef would. The robot     7     (map) the dough’s position and tracks how it moves. Through practice, the robot     8     get better—much like humans develop “muscle memory.” Researchers hope RoDyMan’s technology can lead to a new generation of robots that will perform tasks in ways     9     are accurate and responsive, if not more lifelike.

Yet Siciliano admits that     10     compares with a traditional chef. “I would never eat a pizza made by a robot,” he says. “It would not have the taste a real pizzaiolo, with his soul, would put in it.”

In Chinese, a scallion pancake is called cong you bing. Chinese people love to make these crispy treats from time to time. Scallions are also known as green onions.     1    (essential), a scallion pancake is a type of flatbread that has been folded over several times and grilled or fried in oil and     2    (mix) with a generous helping of these green onions.

To cook a Chinese scallion pancake     3    (be) easy. Start by scattering the scallions into the dough (面团). Next, you need to add the oil. Instead of dropping the dough into the oil, you should use the cooking oil     4    (coat) it. Then, it’s time to fry it. You’ll know it’s ready when it turns     5    (gold) brown but is still tender. Once your scallion pancakes are ready, you can serve them when they’re still hot and fresh,     6     let them cool off first. Either way, you can cut them into pizza-shaped slices and share them with your friends by eating the slices     7     your hands.

In fact, the taste of the Chinese scallion pancakes is so good that many Chinese students who go abroad still crave for the food. These pancakes actually serve as     8     emotional bridge that helps keep the memory of the parents     9     often make them. One of the students says, “It’s so simple when you think about it. Flour, scallions, salt, oil and that’s about it. But from that simple thing, the layers show the thoughtful love of our parents. The     10    (tradition) are in our minds and in our hearts, and sometimes that is enough better than any gold and silver jewelry.

For Kezia Whitaker, cooking has always been a big part of her life. She spent her childhood in the kitchen with her mum, learning about the flavors and skills needed to make an amazing meal. So far Kezia     1    (become) the first winner of the BBC cooking competition Young Master Chef. She cooked Jamaican and other Caribbean-style dishes, which     2    (describe) as “sunshine on a plate”. Whittaker loves to share her passion with friends online, showing young people     3     interesting cooking is. “I’m so addicted     4     cooking,” she said. “Anything food related, I’m running towards it.”

Boiled chicken rice     1     (cook) with chicken oil and dip make up the simple and delicious Hainanese chicken rice. More than a century ago, large numbers of Hainan people spread across Southeast Asia, taking with     2     (they) the native dish Hainanese chicken rice. As time went by, Hainanese chicken rice     3     (gradual) became a popular dish in Southeast Asian countries.

    4     (Locate) in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, the Andrew Wong Hainanese Chicken Rice restaurant is quite popular among the locals. Andrew Wong Hin Hau, the owner,     5     ancestral home is in Qionghai, Hainan province, has been cooking Hainanese chicken rice since 2003. He says the most important thing for cooking

Hainanese chicken rice is     6     (choose) good quality chicken, use Thai fragrant rice, and make the dipping sauce thick.

Welcomed by the diners, Wong’s restaurant sells about 180 servings of Hainanese chicken rice per day. Scott Chong, from China’s Guangdong province, is     7     regular customer. “The taste is good, especially the chicken, which is tender, and the rice is fragrant,” he says.

Hainanese chicken rice not only     8     (satisfy) the diners, but also embodies the taste of home for overseas Chinese from Hainan. It is a vivid reflection of the cultural exchange between people in countries involved     9     the Belt and Road Initiative(倡议), from history to     10     (real).

As COVID-19 restrictions are lifted across the country, Li Xianghui knows it will be challenging for traditional restaurants to handle the increasing number of diners.    1    , for his restaurants, things are different.

    2    (own) four restaurants in Wuhan, Hubei province, Li “employs” an array of cooking machines, which can operate    3    (tireless) day and night. Packed in kits, all     4    (dish) are semifinished and can be served within minutes after they are put into the machines.

“The cooking machine can make about 2,000 recipes. Automation is the future for the catering industry.    5    can help avoid pressure from labor costs, in running a traditional restaurant and increase     6    (efficient). Besides, there is a standardized process by the machines, which can guarantee consistency in the taste of each order.” Li says.

Once    7    (seat), diners scan a QR code and use an app to make their meal selection and pay. After the only waiter puts the semifinished food kit into the machine, the meal will be served in minutes.

What’s more, the robot “chef”    8    (attract) more and more diners since the restaurant’s opening in October.

“The taste is good and the price is not expensive,”    9    regular customer says.

    10    such restaurants springing up across the country, robot “chefs” are not only taking over restaurants but also coming into homes.