Coming out of CES earlier this month, you might think a new kitchen assistant from a startup called Gambit Robotics would look something like the dozens of humanoid robots roaming the show floor in Las Vegas.
Instead, the company’s newest product, launching on Kickstarter tomorrow, is something much more familiar, closer in spirit to the guided cooking systems that began to emerge in the smart kitchen over the past decade, albeit with a computer-vision-driven twist.
The eponymously named Gambit, described by the company as an “AI sous chef,” uses an AI-powered computer vision system mounted above the stove to detect heat patterns and track cooking progress. Positioned above the cooktop, the device can see what’s happening in the pan, monitor burner activity, and sense temperature changes. According to the company, users can drop in almost any recipe, whether from a website, a photo of a handwritten card, or a family favorite, and the system will break down the steps and follow along as you cook. Guidance will be delivered via “conversational” voice guidance.
Company cofounder Nicole Maffeo says Gambit provides guidance and coaching you “can turn on or off,” including educational nudges designed to help users improve over time. “You can leave the kitchen,” she said.
As for the company’s longer-term ambitions, Maffeo says Gambit’s vision extends well beyond a single device. She and cofounder Eliot Horowitz see an eventual ecosystem of kitchen assistants, including devices that understand what’s in your pantry or fridge and connect shopping, planning, and execution.
The company is building on top of a platform created by Horowitz for his company called Viam, which I described as something of a “WordPress for robotics” when I interviewed him in November. Down the road, that ecosystem could include robotic arms or deeper appliance integrations. In the near term, however, Maffeo says the company is also exploring software licensing opportunities with appliance makers, particularly around its computer vision and thermal sensing stack.
“We don’t need to own every piece of hardware,” Maffeo said. “If there’s a hood above a stove, that software should be there.”
Gambit plans to price the hardware at roughly $500 at retail, with early Kickstarter backers receiving a modest discount. The company is pairing the device with a monthly subscription, expected to land between $9 and $15. Maffeo says Gambit is targeting Q3 of this year for shipping products to consumers.
Rather than a walking, talking kitchen robot chef, Gambit strikes me as much closer in function to the guided cooking systems that were a major focus of smart kitchen startups a decade ago. Companies such as Hestan, ChefSteps, and Thermomix paired software, sensors, and cooking hardware to create cooking assistants. While guided cooking eventually faded as many of those products failed to find the level of success their creators hoped for, Maffeo believes the timing is right this time around, thanks to advances in AI systems that can make these tools work better.
She may be right, but a couple of questions remain. The first is whether consumers will understand what this product actually does. Gambit is not a cooking device, but a cooking guidance system. The promised benefits are similar to those offered by earlier guided cooking products, such as the Hestan Cue, except Gambit delivers those benefits through a device mounted above the stove rather than through smart cookware or appliances.
The second question is whether consumers will be willing to pay for those benefits in the form of a $500 device and an ongoing subscription. Consumers have historically been reluctant to spend on entirely new kitchen product categories, and this is not an insignificant price tag.
There’s little doubt the technology itself is impressive, and it’s encouraging to see experienced entrepreneurs like Horowitz and Maffeo looking to the kitchen as a place to apply AI-enabled technology. I’ll be watching closely to see whether Gambit can help usher in a new era of guided cooking, this time powered by AI and, eventually, robotics.
The product launches on Kickstarter tomorrow, January 27th.
