From Robots.net:
Kim Goossens and marev sent us links about a new Japanese “wine-tasting” robot; one from the BBC Technology NewsYahoo’s AP wire service. As it turns out, the new NEC robot doesn’t actually taste wines, cheeses, and other foods. Instead, the Health and Food Advice Robot determines the chemical composition of wines and foods by using IR light from an “optical tongue” to determine a unique “spectral fingerprint” for each food. The articles note that the robot can only accurately identify a few dozen wines out of the thousands on the market. It also made a few interesting identifications during the demonstration: “Some of the mistakes it makes would get a human sommelier fired - or worse. When a reporter’s hand was placed against the robot’s taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto. A cameraman was mistaken for bacon.” If you really think you need a robot that can guess the name of foods and wines you show it, expect to pay “about as much as a new car”. They hope to eventually get the price down to $1,000 and make the robot’s guesses more accurate. For more information, see the NEC System Technologies news release.
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