This is one egg you don’t want to break. Meet HelloEgg, the child of an old-fashioned egg timer and some very new AI technology. Branded as the “first smart assistant designed especially for the kitchen,” this cute little gadget is a voice-operated culinary helper that boasts both a display and personality.
Brought to market by Internet of Things-focused company RnD64, HelloEgg wants to put a whole team of cooking helpers in your kitchen by way of one electronic device. The egg-shaped piece of technology depends upon both artificial intelligence and a group of real humans to help you cook and improve your kitchen skills. With step-by-step cooking videos and the ability to ask specific questions when a person on a screen just won’t cut it, HelloEgg might just be how you wean yourself off Seamless.
“Having conducted market research, we found that the average person spends about 400 hours a year — which is three years of her or their life — in the kitchen,” said Dmytro Shemet, CEO of RND64. “We realized that modern kitchen assistance and entertainment can’t be reduced to voice tutorials and music streaming, but it should also include video instructions, real-time human help, and much more.”
HelloEgg comes with cooking assistance even for the most advanced chefs, as well as step-by-step voice-navigated recipe video tutorials and real-time prompts from a human support team for those who might need a little more hand holding in the kitchen. Moreover, the smart device promises to “keep a lively conversation going by expressing itself through mimicking facial expressions,” and can also keep you entertained and informed by way of Spotify, audio news feeds, weather forecasts, and voice-activated timers and reminders.
So if you’re looking for a way to start eating out less, or just to up your abilities at the stovetop, HelloEgg may be the help you’ve been waiting for. The device starts shipping in February 2017, and is currently available for pre-order here.