For years, I’ve said that the Thermomix is quite possibly the most successful automated cooking appliance in the world. Sure, it’s not a humanoid robot or what we’ve come to expect from cooking robots in recent years, but the TM6 and TM7 are software-powered cooking appliances that automate and sequence functions in a way that feels surprisingly intelligent, especially compared to typical countertop or built-in kitchen appliances.
But now, if recent moves by Thermomix’s corporate parent, Vorwerk, are any indication, Thermomix may be going full robot. At last month’s Automatica conference in Munich, Thermomix and red-hot German robotics startup Neura Robotics announced a partnership in which Neura’s humanoid robot used Vorwerk’s Thermomix and Kobold vacuum cleaners to perform everyday household tasks.
According to Neura CEO David Reger, optimizing his robots to work with Vorwerk’s cooking and cleaning appliances is a step toward building an aging-in-place platform powered by humanoids.
“Together with Vorwerk, we are redefining household robotics – with intelligent assistants that provide concrete relief for people in their everyday lives: from cooking to independent living in old age,” said Reger.
Even more interestingly, Vorwerk also announced a partnership with AI and chip giant NVIDIA last month. According to the announcement, “Vorwerk is post-training NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1, an open robot foundation model, to support families around the home, whether seniors looking to maintain their independence, or busy families in need of an extra pair of hands. To post-train the model, Vorwerk is leveraging the Isaac GR00T-Mimic data pipeline to generate large, diverse synthetic motions data to prepare robots for common household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and more.
“Together with NVIDIA Robotics we are now taking a significant step towards the connected and automated home,” wrote Vorwerk CEO Thomas Rodemann on Linkedin. “Our goal: creating integrated digital/physical ecosystems that support our community in their everyday lives and make the home more convenient for everyone – whether it’s providing busy families with an extra pair of hands or giving seniors more independence.”
When Jensen Huang showed up at CES in January and said that the ChatGPT moment for robotics is right around the corner, I’m not sure if he was thinking about cooking food with the Thermomix, but maybe he was. Vorwerk would be a logical candidate to build true home robot assistants, since progressing rightward on the simple tool to fully-capable robot continuum already and they’ve been the most successful at integrating software with home cooking automation
You can watch the video of the NVIDIA-powered robot making food with the Thermomix in the video below.
