2010考研英语历年真题来源报刊阅读:厨房里的机器人

A robot in the kitchen 
　　
Matt Mason has seen the future—and it’s fun. As director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Mason likes thinking about how machines can make our lives easier by taking over the tasks we hate, like mopping, scrubbing and cleaning. When it comes to the kitchen, he’s confident that within just a few decades, robots will ruledoing most of the burdensome work and freeing us to sit back and relax. “Right now we think of the kitchen as a place for chores,” says Mason.“But maybe we’re in the process of discovering it as a place we can enjoy.”
　　
So unless you really, really love to clean, you won’t have to. The revolution has already begun. Recently, iRobot, the company that gave us the Roomba vacuum, unveiled Scooba—a robot that vacuums, wetscrubs and dries floors all at once. The robotic floor cleaners of the future could take many different forms, explains Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends, which tracks developments in automation. He envisions a floor-cleaning system that’s built into the wall and blows debris to a part of the room where it’s sucked up by a vacuum. Then the system sprays the floor with a soapy solution, and it’s mopped up by an arm with a sponge attached. “This is sheer speculation, of course,” Kara admits, “but you could program it to come on at 3 a.m., and it would just wetmop the floor for you.”
　　
More than just fun, future kitchens will be environmentally friendly. Bruce Beihoff, director of Corporate Innovation and Technology at Whirl—pool, foresees appliance systems that recycle the energy lost from your oven to heat the kitchen, your water, even the entire home.“We have things like this running in our labs today,” he says. Even your sink water could be reused, sanitized and recycled through a filter. And a green kitchen means more green in your pocket.
　　
New culinary technologies will help you go from Chef Boring to Chef Brilliant. The best cooks know that an evenly heated skillet is crucial to the perfect saute. Enter the “pow dered bed,” an experimental stovetop that’s been designed by Whirlpool. Using microwave-heated ceramic chips instead of standard gas flame or electric coil, the system heats pans with near-perfect balance and lets you control the heat level with incredible precision. “It gives you extremely even heating,” says Whirlpool’s Beihoff,“maybe 10 or 20 times better than the best pan you can buy today.” Researchers at Whirlpool are also experimenting with an oven that will let you roast a skinless chicken to crispy perfection. “You’d still get the beautiful aesthetics in taste and appearance,” says Beihoff, “but you’d be able to cut way back on fats.”
　　
Paul Leuthe, corporate marketing manager for Wolf Appliance Company, says induction burners will be de rigueur. They use a magnetic field to heat up pans, bring water to a boil in half the time it takes now, and allow for slow cooking.