Daniel Y.

Iron Ox

Iron Ox

Iron Ox

Joost Scholten   Sander van der Meij

Plants require light to grow. And every plant has very specific preferences for particular types of light. American university MIT is experimenting with various microclimates designed specifically for particular crops. These microclimates are compiled by AI. These miniature greenhouses generate three million data points per growth cycle. The AI uses machine learning to analyze the data and to detect patterns that indicate what the optimal conditions are for the plants.

Researchers call these installations ‘food computers’. In the future, such installations could contribute significantly to crop cultivation in areas suffering from drought or excessive heat due to global warming.

Users of this app submit their personal diets, preferences, and nutritional objectives. The app then helps them by providing suggestions and over 1.5 million recipes that suit their specified diet. A chatbot offers suggestions for recipes using ingredients you have in your kitchen. The app also helps users plan meals for the long-term and compile shopping lists. 

In addition, the system contains more than half a million menus from restaurants all over the US. The AI is able to tell you which items on a particular menu are suited to your diet. That way, Suggestic makes it much easier for you to make the right choice. 

The American app Halla aims to make delivery simpler for customers by using its own app to search what’s on offer on various platforms. Plus, Halla provides recommendations based on everything that’s available and the search terms used. It’s a kind of Netflix for food. But what makes Halla’s dinner and delivery recommendations just a bit more precise than the streaming service, is that the company claims their database is based on 21 million dishes from the kitchens of no fewer than 400,000 restaurants across the US. 

Halla knows its customers and also offers recommendations in the supermarket based on your personal preferences and allergies, as well as based on what you’ve already put in
your basket.

The US agricultural company Nature Fresh uses AI to optimize existing processes. Robotic arms equipped with sensors can tell from the flowers on young tomato plants when the fruit is ready to pick and package. The company knows precisely how many tomatoes are available in any given period, which makes processing, sales, and transportation much more efficient.

AI helps to produce our food. In late 2018, Californian developer Iron Ox introduced the first AI farm in the US. The tech firm claims to be able to produce over thirty times more vegetables there than on a traditional farm. Thanks in part to their smart software. The business grows green plants and herbs in ‘grow modules’ on an area of some 600 square feet (185 square meters).

On this farm, machines harvest, transfer, and attend to the plants at precisely the perfect time. Plants are picked by a robotic arm which can also immediately detect diseases, pests, and abnormalities. 

Chatbots are the most ubiquitous and obvious AI application. As these bots complete more and more conversations, they are becoming better and better at what they do. They’re able to assist customers making reservations, answer requests for information, and take orders.

One of the first major players to adopt chatbots was the Domino’s pizza chain. Customers could order a pizza by sending a pizza emoji to their chatbot. Not just efficient, but also good for the buzz around the brand.

Sacha Koolen, Hans Steenbergen & Frank Lindner   Xiao Er Kong

How AI assists and steers decision-making
Issues of hospitality, nutrition and lifestyle are personal choices and unique to each individual. Nevertheless, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help us make the smartest choices and to take optimal care of ourselves, our consumers, and our planet. Here are six international, inspiring examples.

Cool concepts

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AI in food

  5 min

Plants require light to grow. And every plant has very specific preferences for particular types of light. American university MIT is experimenting with various microclimates designed specifically for particular crops. These microclimates are compiled by AI. These miniature greenhouses generate three million data points per growth cycle. The AI uses machine learning to analyze the data and to detect patterns that indicate what the optimal conditions are for the plants.

Researchers call these installations ‘food computers’. In the future, such installations could contribute significantly to crop cultivation in areas suffering from drought or excessive heat due to global warming.

Users of this app submit their personal diets, preferences, and nutritional objectives. The app then helps them by providing suggestions and over 1.5 million recipes that suit their specified diet. A chatbot offers suggestions for recipes using ingredients you have in your kitchen. The app also helps users plan meals for the long-term and compile shopping lists. 

In addition, the system contains more than half a million menus from restaurants all over the US. The AI is able to tell you which items on a particular menu are suited to your diet. That way, Suggestic makes it much easier for you to make the right choice. 

The American app Halla aims to make delivery simpler for customers by using its own app to search what’s on offer on various platforms. Plus, Halla provides recommendations based on everything that’s available and the search terms used. It’s a kind of Netflix for food. But what makes Halla’s dinner and delivery recommendations just a bit more precise than the streaming service, is that the company claims their database is based on 21 million dishes from the kitchens of no fewer than 400,000 restaurants across the US. 

Halla knows its customers and also offers recommendations in the supermarket based on your personal preferences and allergies, as well as based on what you’ve already put in your basket.

The US agricultural company Nature Fresh uses AI to optimize existing processes. Robotic arms equipped with sensors can tell from the flowers on young tomato plants when the fruit is ready to pick and package. The company knows precisely how many tomatoes are available in any given period, which makes processing, sales, and transportation much more efficient.

AI helps to produce our food. In late 2018, Californian developer Iron Ox introduced the first AI farm in the US. The tech firm claims to be able to produce over thirty times more vegetables there than on a traditional farm. Thanks in part to their smart software. The business grows green plants and herbs in ‘grow modules’ on an area of some 600 square feet (185 square meters).

On this farm, machines harvest, transfer, and attend to the plants at precisely the perfect time. Plants are picked by a robotic arm which can also immediately detect diseases, pests, and abnormalities. 

Chatbots are the most ubiquitous and obvious AI application. As these bots complete more and more conversations, they are becoming better and better at what they do. They’re able to assist customers making reservations, answer requests for information, and take orders.

One of the first major players to adopt chatbots was the Domino’s pizza chain. Customers could order a pizza by sending a pizza emoji to their chatbot. Not just efficient, but also good for the buzz around the brand.

How AI assists and steers decision-making
Issues of hospitality, nutrition and lifestyle are personal choices and unique to each individual. Nevertheless, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help us make the smartest choices and to take optimal care of ourselves, our consumers, and our planet. Here are six international, inspiring examples.

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Cool concepts

Sacha Koolen, Hans Steenbergen & Frank Lindner   Xiao Er Kong

  5 min

Overview magazines

Food Inspiration Magazine is the online magazine for foodservice professionals in search of inspiration and innovation. With the magazine we collect, enrich and spread inspiration. The free subscription magazine is published eight times per year and is an abundant source of inspiration for food and hospitality professionals. Our readers can be found in the U.S., Northern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
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