NEC System Technologies, Japan in cooperation with Mie University have developed a personal robot capable of "tasting" foods. The composition of foods is analyzed with an infrared sensor, and the robot will give advice about health and eating habits.

The robot takes advantage of a property called "spectrum reflection ratio" (the reflection ratio of light per wavelength) of water, protein, and molecule type. The food is exposed to infrared light of varying wavelengths, which will bounce back; the robot then analyzes the spectrum of the infrared light that returns...and can thus understand what molecules are inside of the food. Read More