Skip to main content

Want a robotic knife sharpener in your kitchen? Try Knife Robot

knife robot automatic sharpener
A Silicon Valley based startup, KnifeRobot, is featuring a new product on Indiegogo. The KnifeRobot Auto Sharp is a robotic knife sharpener that is hands-free and automatic. If you want to sharpen your knife, you simply place it inside the machine, press the “work” button, wait for about five minutes, and the knife emerges with a razor-sharp blade. The KnifeRobot will come in both a home kitchen model and a chef’s version. The home kitchen model is portable, and typically sits on top of the counter, while the chef’s version is built into the cooking or preparation area.

To date, the three-member KnifeRobot team, which includes a founder and two programmers, has raised nearly $65,000 from 192 backers. This means the KnifeRobot team has exceeded its $20,000 goal by nearly 325 percent, and the campaign still has 21 more days left to go.

The KnifeRobot Auto Sharp is a type of CNC (computer numeric control) machine. It contains a shape sensor, a microscopic camera, and coarse and fine belts. When you insert a knife, the shape sensor detects its shape, and then the coarse belt sharpens each of its sides. The microscopic camera detects the burr, which is a beveled edge a knife tends to get after sharpening. Finally, the fine belt removes the burr from each side of the knife.

If you want to back the KnifeRobot Auto Sharp, you can pre-order the home kitchen model for around $300. The built-in countertop chef’s version will cost you a pretty penny though — a cool $5,000. KnifeRobot is also offering limited edition home models for around $600. The company estimates that it will fill these pre-orders in October 2017. Before you back any project on a crowdfunding site, however, please keep in mind that backing a project is not the same as buying a product from a store. It’s a good idea to use caution and as always, do your research.

U.S. emergency rooms treated 8.25 million knife-related injuries from 1990 to 2008, the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health reports. When a knife is dull, it is more difficult to cut with, and it will slide off of foods like fruits and vegetables more easily. The extra force you need to cut with a dull knife makes them more dangerous than sharp ones.

Editors' Recommendations

Erika Rawes
Smart Home Evergreen Coordinator
Erika became a professional writer in 2010, and her work is published all over the web on sites ranging from USA Today to…
The machines ham it up again: We found the best robots at CES 2017
ubtech lynx ces 2017 2

Ever since Robot B-9 made his appearance in Lost in Space, mankind has dreamed of a fleet of helper-bots to tend to our needs, and more importantly, relieve our day-to-day monotony. At at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, a slew of new innovation was put on parade for our gawking pleasure and as usual, the robots stole the show.

From Wi-Fi enabled autonomous vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers to robotic healthcare workers, the full array of future automated assistance was on display. This next wave of robotic helpers may indeed one day take most of our jobs; however, for the time being, let's us sit back, relax, and at least enjoy the show as it unfolds. Shall we?

Read more
Lynx gives Amazon’s Alexa appendages, personality, and robot dance moves
machines ham best robots ces 2017 ubtech lynx

LG and Sony may have nabbed the bulk of the headlines at CES on Thursday, but it's Alexa that dominated the showroom floor. Amazon's virtual assistant has seemingly made its way into every facet of home automation and entertainment, from Lenovo's forthcoming Smart Assistant to Vobot's smart timepiece, quickly becoming the go-to platform for anyone who is looking to bring voice-activated functionality to their product.

Until this year, however, Alexa has merely been a voice without a face. China-based Ubtech Robotics is looking to change that with the Lynx, a video-enabled robot that is designed to look as adorable on the dance floor as your kitchen counter.

Read more
People want big kitchens, but aren’t really interested in having others over
architect jeff pelletier lego room box remodel kitchen03

It’s cliché to say that the kitchen is the center of the home, but we’re going to do it anyway -- if only because two recent surveys prove the old axiom.

Last week, Ikea released its Life at Home report, based on its survey of 12,000 residents of Berlin, London, Mumbai, New York, Shanghai, Toronto, and five other cities. Today, the Houzz & Home survey of more than 120,000 U.S. respondents came out, detailing the remodeling and decorating site’s findings on 2015 renovations.

Read more