The rise of the user-centred smart kitchen

One of the largest household appliance manufacturers in China, Midea, showed where kitchen appliances are heading at the recent the 2018 Appliances & Electronics World Expo (2018 AWE) in Shanghai.

Some of the highlights included:

• the Fun oven, supported by artificial intelligence (AI) image recognition, that can analyse the food placed in the oven through machine learning and AI recognition technologies before automatically matching an appropriate cooking curve. As an added bonus, the oven also has a built-in camera that can take photos of the dish being cooked and share it on social media;
• a voice-controlled microwave oven series, equipped with a Chipintelli & Conexant voice chip, allowing hands-free cooking as users can give the microwave simple voice instructions such as "Open the door" and "Select the right recipe";
• a dishwasher catering specifically to the Chinese kitchen and that is optimised for the cooking habits in Chinese households. The dishwasher can complete tasks such as dish cleaning with running water, vegetable and fruit cleansing and garbage disposal;
• a range hood with a steam cleaning feature.

Midea is the world's premier major appliances manufacturer (according to Euromonitor) and has annual sales revenue exceeding US$23 billion. The company is the No. 1 microwave oven and No. 3 dishwasher manufacturer globally and operates three production bases and two R&D centres in China in addition to a production base in Belarus and R&D centres in Bologna, Italy and Louisville, USA.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/denis_vermenko