The robots are coming? More like the robots are already here, and they’re in notable force at CES in Las Vegas (here are the CES products captivating us). Some robots are intended to nanny your dog, while others are meant to assist the aging and elderly. But the robots I’m most interested in are whipping up food, sweets, beer and cocktails for the hungry and thirsty masses.
AI-powered ovens, intelligent grills and smart cocktail machines have permeated the consumer tech expo in recent years. The 2024 convention is no exception, with a flurry of additions to an ever-crowded lineup of smart kitchen gadgets and culinary bots. But how do the items they prepare taste?
From goodies whipped up by robot ice cream makers and autonomous bartenders to pho and ramen dispensed by vending machines that cook hot meals from scratch, these are the best (and worst) foods and drinks made by robots at CES 2024.
9. Yo-Kai, prime beef pho
The beef in my prime beef pho left something to be desired.
Yo-Kai is an autonomous restaurant that creates hot orders of pan-Asian food from scratch, all within the confines of a single vending machine-size unit. The Yo-Kai machine cooks and dispenses bowls of hot ramen, pho and udon made from fresh ingredients in 90 seconds. The Japanese brand has produced a smaller, countertop version too, though it’s not quite ready for consumer sale.
I tried three of Yo-Kai’s offerings at CES, so the brand appears multiple times on my list. The beef in the prime beef pho was my least favorite, and the meat tasted anything but prime — though the pho broth and floating rice cakes were excellent. The dish was perfectly edible, but still placed last on my list of CES’ robot-made eats.
8. iGulu, IPA
iGulu’s IPA tasted nice, with good hop balance, but it was a little undercarbonated.
iGulu is a sleek and smart at-home brewer that simplifies the beermaking process. Just fill the brewing chamber with water, add four to five ingredients when the system tells you. About two weeks later, you’ll have 40 liters of freshly made beer in a self-cooling kegerator.
The IPA I sampled at CES had a satisfying flavor profile but lacked the carbonation I crave in a hoppy ale.
7. Sweet Robo, soft serve ice cream
Sweet Robo’s soft serve was whipped up in 2 minutes and perfectly satisfying.
This is one of two ice cream robots on the list. The massive Ice Cream Robot is made for movie theaters, amusement parks and malls, but one was planted at CES churning portions of soft serve to hungry passersby. The machine makes swirls of fresh vanilla, chocolate or pistachio in less than 2 minutes. It even lets you choose toppings such as strawberry sauce or sprinkles.
The soft serve I slurped was perfectly fine. It reminded me of, well, most of the soft serve I’ve had. Creamy, not too sweet, with no corn syrup taste. I would gladly eat it again and watching it being made was fun, but the ice cream itself wasn’t unique or memorable.
6. Yo-Kai, chocolate boba tea
I’m not a big fan of boba tea, but my colleagues who do tell me this robot-made version was up to snuff.
Full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of pearl tea, so the placement of this tasting should be taken with a grain of salt. The tapioca balls, the only thing I like about boba, were chewy, toothsome and delicious. A few colleagues of mine who do like boba told me it was great.
5. TechMagic, chicken stir-fry
TechMagic’s robot makes a decent stir fry on demand.
This industrial str-fry machine intended to help restaurants streamline their kitchens, nabbed a lot of attention in the food tech section of CES. I don’t think I was supposed to taste this one, but someone left a bowl of piping-hot stir fry unattended and I waltzed away with it like a common thief.
The chicken was tender, the vegetables were properly cooked and the teriyaki sauce was delicate and flavorful. All in all, a pretty solid stir-fry, made autonomously in minutes.
4. ColdSnap ice cream, multiple flavors
Pod goes in. Ice cream comes out. All the ColdSnap flavors I tried were tasty.
ColdSnap is still working its way through the final stages of engineering, but it’ll be rolling out to restaurant partners this year and retail stores in 2025. Of the two robot ice cream makers I tried, ColdSnap — which turns shelf-stable cans into smooth and delicious ice cream in two minutes — was the clear winner.
I tasted ColdSnaps instant vanilla, chocolate and coffee. (And, yes, the people handing out ice cream at the booth are definitely sick of me). All of the flavors tasted like they were made with fresh cream and natural flavors with no cheap sweeteners. Even ColdSnap’s vegan chocolate ice cream made with oat milk was a hit.
3. Barsys, madras cocktail
My expectations were tempered for the Barsys robot cocktail machine, but the Madras I sipped was excellent.
Barsys is a more craft version of the original robot cocktail maker, Bartesian. While Bartesian mixes premade cocktail pods with booze, Barsys makes them from scratch. There are six 1-liter reservoirs in which one can put juices, liquors and other ingredients.
An integrated app lets you know which cocktails are possible with whatever’s in your machine and then whips one up with the push of a button. The measured drink is dispensed into a special plastic glass below with built-in paddles that mix the cocktail automatically before you serve it up or over ice.
I had low expectations for this one, but the Barsys machine delivered a bright and balanced madras — vodka, cranberry and orange — that I happily drank.
2. iGulu, Bavarian wheat beer
iGulu’s Bavarian wheat beer was excellent.
iGulu’s Bavarian wheat beer was much better than the mostly flat IPA. As you can see, it had a nice head, good carbonation and plenty of classic wheat beer notes like citrus and clove.
1. Yo-Kai, pork tontsku ramen
It’s hard to beat a good ramen on a chilly day. Yo-Kai’s autonomous restaurant steals the top spot with a solid pork tonkstu offering.
While Yo-Kai’s beef pho didn’t impress, the 90-second pork tonkstu ramen was the best robot dish I tried all of CES. The pork was melt-in-the-mouth tender and the miso-based broth was an umami-bomb of the best sort. I will gladly surrender to the robots if they promise to make this ramen for me every day.
See what else is cooking at CES 2024 in our full coverage of the tech expo.
