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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

IoT

Strella Believes Its Machine Learning Tech Will Help Deliver The Perfectly Ripened Banana

Did you know that there’s a job in the banana industry called a ripener?

It makes sense, right? After all, anyone who eats bananas knows the time it takes to go from rock-hard green banana to brown mushy mess can be as short as a week. This means the banana industry has to work hard to ensure bananas ripen at the right time so they are peaking in bright, beautiful yellow by the time they show up on grocery store shelves.

Like many jobs, the ripener role relies heavily on judgment. Not that they don’t use some modern tools when monitoring and managing the ripening cycle of the banana, but from the looks of it, the ripener job seems ripe (sorry) for a Moneyball-style analytics and technology revolution.

Enter Strella. The company, which has gained traction in the apple industry for its IoT monitoring technology over the past few years, has gone bananas. According to company CEO Katherine Sizov, the company’s new AI-powered model helps them (and those working as ripeners) better decipher the signals the bananas send.

“We’ve built a machine learning model that helps us get bananas from that green to that perfectly yellow color every single time,” Sizov told The Spoon. “And the way that we do that is we measure what the bananas are telling us.”

According to Sizov, the hardware they use for banana monitoring is the same as for apples. The difference is software.

“The hardware is the same, but the algorithms are different,” Sizov said.

Sizov says that whether it’s apples or pears (fruit with longer ripening cycles) or avocadoes or bananas (fruit with shorter ripening cycles), the key indicators sending signals around the ripening stage are ethylene and CO2 emitted from the produce. The Strella hardware module has eight different sensors, sensing ethylene, CO2, and other environmental factors such as heat and moisture.

And just as with apples, the Strella technology can help determine what exactly is needed to slow down or accelerate the ripening cycle of a banana. The only difference is that things move much more quickly with bananas or avocados, which is why a job explicitly focuses on managing the process of ripening the produce.

“Unlike bananas, apples are picked perfect off the tree,” Sizov said. “And they can last a whole year in gigantic storage rooms.”

With bananas or avocadoes, the ripening process is much more closely managed. They are picked before they are ripe and then stored cold to slow the ripening until they get near the point of consumption. From there, they go into ripening rooms, and the ripener introduces ethylene gas and CO2 and adjusts the temperature to kick the ripening process into gear. And now, according to Strizov, Strella’s new banana and avocado machine-learning algorithms can help determine precisely how much of each is needed to adjust the ripening cycle to get the desired output.

Should ripeners be worried about technology taking their jobs away? Sizov doesn’t think so.

“When people are very good at their jobs, they’re always looking for tools to do better,” Sizov said. “Ripeners have a ton on their plate, they’re working 12 to 14-hour shifts, so I think they’re always looking for ways to get a little more sleep. Our tool is one way to do that.”

According to Sizov, Strella has worked with 85% of the US market for apple and pears suppliers and estimates the company has saved 20 million pounds of apples and pears from going to waste. Now, she hopes they can replicate that success in bananas and avocados.

“We’re growing pretty quickly, and we’re excited to get into bananas and avocados after having had our foray into apples for five years now.”

If you’d like to hear Katherine discuss how AI can perfect the ripening of bananas, she will be speaking at the Spoon’s Food AI Summit on October 25th in Alameda, CA! Get your early bird tickets today!

Napa Valley Winery Uses Cisco’s IoT Sensors in Vineyard

Bouchaine Vineyards, based in Napa Valley, California, shared this week that it has integrated Cisco Systems‘ sensor technology throughout its 100 acres of vineyards.

The Cisco Industrial Asset Vision sensors are installed in multiple areas throughout the vineyard to gather data points, including humidity, water availability, temperature, and light. Large vineyards are broken up into “blocks” separated based on topographic features or soil type. The sensors track data block-by-block and upload it to a real-time dashboard.

Each block might receive a different amount of light, and Cisco’s technology can determine how much light is hitting each grapevine in a single block. This information gives insight into the development of tannins and can also be used to inform leafing, fruit thinning, and irrigation of the vines.

A critical insight for the California-based vineyard is water usage. With California constantly experiencing droughts and strain on water sources, knowing when to irrigate is essential. Since the sensors track temperature, this can help the winery irrigate the vines when only necessary, therefore reducing its water usage.

According to a study done by Cornell University, climate change has reduced farm productivity by 20 percent since the 1960s. As a result, farmers are increasingly embracing Internet of Things technology like Cisco’s to monitor and adapt to changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity to fight back. Arable has developed sensor-filled discs that monitor metrics like rainfall, humidity, soil moisture, plant temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and direction, and chlorophyll index. InnerPlant actually turns plants into “living sensors” that change color when something is wrong with it (disease, pests, not enough water, etc.). Another agtech company called CropX uses in-ground sensors to measure soil moisture.

In addition to sensors, Bouchaine uses Cisco Webex, a virtual meeting and event platform, to allow its customers to book virtual tastings through the winery. In the virtual tastings, customers can view a live stream of the vineyard, and a dashboard with information gathered from the sensors.

Steve Nackers on The Evolving Role of Cyber-Security in the Connected Kitchen

Does your blender prefer a specific brand of low-fat yogurt? Is your stovetop eager to share snapshots of last weekend’s epic dinner party? Just how connected are smart kitchens, and more importantly, which appliance knows what (and who are they sharing it with)?

Steve Nackers, corporate Manager of Electronic Controls for Sub-Zero, will be at this year’s Smart Kitchen Summit discussing cybersecurity, the connected kitchen, and the chances of your slow-cooker chili setting off five alarms in all the wrong places.

We sent him a few questions before the October event about how the Sub-Zero team are tackling innovation, performance, and adaptive privacy settings.

This interview has been lighted edited for clarity. 

Tell us more about what you do for Sub-Zero Group, Inc.
I’ve been with Sub-Zero Group, Inc. for over 18 years. During that time, my career has spanned from field support to product launches to innovative research initiatives. I have enjoyed experiencing a wide part of the DNA of this family-owned company and its commitment to its customers — something I’m excited to see even more growth around with the recent breaking ground on our new innovation center that will serve as a hub for research and development.

As the Corporate Manager of Electronic Controls for Sub-Zero Group, Inc., my team will be one of the first to move to the new innovation center where we will work alongside teams from across our three great brands on developing and integrating the controls, software, and innovations that deliver on that promise of quality and value that Sub-Zero Group, Inc. is known for.

How have you seen technology transform the way we cook in the kitchen?
Yes — technology is reshaping the kitchen and the home space around us in ways we see, and in ways we don’t. However, it is important to make sure that those technologies are applied in meaningful ways that enable and enhance the consumer experience. From the NASA-inspired air filter technologies that enhance food preservation to precision software and instrumentation that has evolved greatly in the last decade to provide the consumer greater control and more predictable cooking results, these technologies are reshaping the cooking experience. We continue to take really innovative and new technologies and shape them in ways that help our consumers to have an experience in the kitchen that gives them confidence.

Do you envision a future in which all kitchen appliances are connected and controllable via your phone/voice?
The key thing is providing the consumer with choice. Homeowners still really value the ability to interact with their appliances, but are also looking for ways to improve their efficiency in the kitchen. Their data, privacy, and security should be what they have control over, and we need to enable them to interact with their appliances in the ways that are most seamless and comfortable for them. For some people, that will be voice, for others it is mobile, and still others it is a physical knob. Thoughtfully designing the appliances from day one throughout our engineering process to accommodate that choice and respecting the values of our consumers is what drives our vision of the future.

How do you address consumer concerns about privacy with IoT-enabled devices?
We take security very seriously and have worked closely with organizations like UL and Microsoft from the start to ensure proper measures are in place to be proactive about vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity is an ever-changing landscape, and is something we must continuously evolve and update our security measures to stay on top of. The most important thing is to have a mindset and commitment to security as a priority in every step of your design process and throughout the various levels of your organization. That is something we take seriously and continue to cultivate.

We also understand that consumers have concerns about IoT enabled devices. Our customer service teams are dedicated to working with consumers on their questions. Our hope is always that any concerns they might have we address so effectively that they come away with confidence and a greater sense of trust. To that end, we work to be clear, transparent, and effective in communicating what and how data is handled.

What’s the one kitchen appliance you could never live without?
My Wolf induction cooktop, hands down. Induction is finally making inroads in the U.S., and I’ve converted a few family and friends as well. I had used gas and standard electric methods for years previously, but getting my first Wolf induction cooktop was eye-opening. The power, efficiency, and absolute precision was amazing. To be able to drive a pot of water to rolling boil in under a minute, and yet leave chocolate at a soft melt for as long as needed with such precision on the same devices is incredible. There is a lot of exciting innovation to come in this space too which makes me even more eager for future generations of the product!

Come watch Steve speak on Hacking The Oven: Cybersecurity & The Connected Kitchen at SKS next month! Get 25% off your tickets here.

Grain Storage IoT Company TeleSense Acquires Danish Sensor Maker, Webstech

TeleSense, a grain storage and transportation monitoring startup, announced today that it has acquired Webstech, a Danish food storage sensor company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

We covered TeleSense back in August of last year when the company raised a $6.5 million Series A round of financing, writing:

TeleSense is basically an industrial internet of things (IoT) company that uses a combination of wireless sensors and data tracking to help improve the food supply chain. TeleSense is initially focusing on grain storage and food transport, with its sensors continuously monitoring elements such as temperature and humidity. Using TeleSense’s cloud-based analytics platform, food producers can detect and be notified of anomalies or other problems early, and take action to prevent food spoilage.

TeleSense CEO Naeem Zafar told me by phone last week that the acquisition of Webstech has a number of payoffs for his company. First, Webstech does much the same thing and is already an established player in Europe, giving TeleSense an immediate extension and foothold on that continent. Second, and equally important to Zafar, Webstech has collected a rich data set of more than 60 million records. All this data can be fed into TeleSense’s algorithms and analytics platform for increased knowledge and performance.

As part of the deal Webstech will become TeleSense Europe and Webstech CEO, Thomas Kylling, will be that office’s General Manager, supporting existing European customers and heading up European expansion.

TeleSense is going after a pretty niche market (grain storage monitoring) and the acquisition of Webstech will go a long way towards making it an even bigger player in the narrow space. The addition of European customers adds to TeleSense’s existing pilot programs in the U.S. and Australia. The company has also opened an R&D facility in Vietnam.

Gourmia to Roll Out Smart Multicooker, Coffee Brewer, and Dehydrator at CES

This year will be my first time at CES. Based off of what I’ve heard about the gigantic event, I’m expecting to discover new food tech startups, see new smart kitchen appliances in action, and get very sore feet.

I know at least one range of new products I’ll have to check out. Brooklyn-based smart kitchen company Gourmia just announced that it will be unveiling three new countertop appliances at CES: a 7-quart air fryer, which also functions as a rotisserie and dehyradrator; an 11-in-1 deluxe multicooker (similar to the Instant Pot); and a 10-cup coffee grinder and brewer.

All the devices are connected and can be controlled by the Gourmia mobile app, called Mia. They’re also compatible with Alexa or Google Home. Users can say either “Alexa, ask Mia,” or “Hey Google, ask Mia” to remotely manage cook times or change modes using their voice. The whole “asking a voice assistant to ask another service” thing is definitely annoying and might be more trouble than its worth when you could just do it on your phone, but hopefully Gourmia will find a way to get around it soon.

On the surface, none of these products seem particularly groundbreaking: after all, Gourmia’s lineup already features several IoT-enabled air fryers, multicookers and coffee grinder/brewers, which are already voice compatible. I’ll have to stop by their booth at CES to see if Gourmia’s newest appliances can sweep me off my (tired) feet.

Video: Convenience Is the Future of Food Retail

After Christian Lane‘s first business, which he built at the age of 19, folded, he got the idea to launch a new endeavor in the smart kitchen field. Which, as he’ll tell you, was not always easy going.

Despite the challenges (and his self-described ‘retail rollercoaster’), Lane eventually succeeded in building Smarter: a connected kitchen company which sells WiFi-enabled kettles, coffee makers, and a camera which can identify 80% of what’s in your fridge.

In this TED-style talk at the Smart Kitchen Summit Europe, Lane makes some bold predictions about the future of retail — especially in the kitchen. His presentation had plenty of laughs and didn’t shy away from the real-life issues food startups struggling for a piece of the market will face in the future.

“We are in denial about what is happening, and how our industry is being revolutionized by technology,” said Lane. “We need to fast forward to integration.”

So how do we do that? According to Lane, simplification is the key to success. “It’s convenience that powers retail,” he said.

Watch the video below to see his full talk.

If you want to see more exclusive talks from top food tech innovators, make sure to join us for the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle on October 8-9th!

Rebranded Kadabra Deploys Kiosk That’s Basically an Amazon Locker for Food

Sometimes it’s just easier to let people come to you.

That seems to be the thinking as Kadabra (previously Veebie) debuts the second generation prototype of its cubby-filled kiosk. Unlike the company’s first prototype which was a mobile kiosk that could be moved around a city to a different a location every day, the Portland, Maine startup’s latest prototype is stationary.

“Based on the test, we determined that it would be too costly to move hundreds of mobile kiosks around a large city on a daily basis,” Kadabra CEO Steve Sperry told me via email.

Makes sense, particularly for a resource-constrained startup.  Creating a fleet of mobile kiosks – with a plan to eventually make them self-driving – is a much bigger (and more capital intensive) idea than simply creating an network of stationary, automated food cubby systems located in different high-volume locations like fast-casual restaurants or office building lobbies.

This second, more achievable concept is exactly what Kadabra is now focused on, and to commemorate the change the company once named Veebie has also changed its name to Kadabra.

“We changed our name because we felt that Veebie, while unique and memorable, didn’t say anything about our company or our concept,” said Sperry. “Kadabra is meant to suggest that the food ‘magically’ appears in the pod, which from the user’s point of view it kind of does.”

But Sperry and his team didn’t just take the wheels off their kiosks and change the company’s name. They also made some pretty radical changes to the product.

“It’s much more sophisticated than our first prototype,” said Sperry. “It’s a fully functional IoT device that can operate without an attendant and is also refrigerated.”

By taking mobility off the table, Perry’s team was able to focus on making a more capable kiosk system that seems almost akin to an Amazon Locker for food. With the new kiosk system, a consumer can order food from local restaurants and have it delivered to the kiosk and then unlock a cubby with their phone. And because the new system is refrigerated, food can be placed into a cubby (called pods) for a much longer period of time.

It seems the Portland, Maine startup has an affinity for cities named Portland, as the company received a $1 million seed funding round in January of this year from Elevate Capital, a VC based in the other Portland (Oregon).  The company also decided to launch its second prototype in Portland West, as the new Kadabra kiosk resides within a Portland, Oregon location owned by fast casual salad chain Garden Bar.

The company’s business model relies on restaurant partners that can deliver food to the kiosk, but longer term they are considering letting restaurant companies without food delivery capabilities use their kiosks as a way to reach customers.

“We are also exploring using our pods to solve the “last mile” problem in office food delivery,” said Sperry.

You can see a hero reel below narrated by company cofounder/head of hardware Yona Belfort to hear a little about the second generation kiosk design backstory:

Is Electrolux Creating An IoT Platform For Their Connected Products?

You can learn a lot sometimes by reading a company’s job listings.

And so when I read about an Electrolux opening for a role called the “Connected Consumer Solutions Head” – in particular the part where the role would be responsible for “Development, Maintenance and Operation of the Electrolux Connectivity Platform (ECP) including the ECP mobile SDK and the Electrolux.io development and collaboration platform” – I thought, ‘huh, what the heck is the Electrolux Connectivity Platform?’

I’d never heard of anything like it, or its associated mobile SDK, or a developer environment by the name of Electrolux.io. Apparently neither had the Internet, since when I Googled the term ‘Electrolux Connectivity Platform’, the only thing to pop up was this job listing.

So what exactly is the Electrolux Connectivity Platform?

From the sounds of it, it could be an IoT cloud and associated mobile platform that could serve as the underlying software architecture for future Electrolux connected products.

From the listing:

The job will “contribute in a cross functional environment in the development and release of key deliverables to enable successful launch of connected products and solutions to production.”

The listing goes on to describe a role that is responsible for hiring talent, setting strategy, building out an operations team. In short, the job has all the responsibilities you’d expect for a senior person hired to build out a new division.

So what does this mean for Electrolux’s efforts in the world of smart home and connected  kitchen? My guess is that this new ‘platform’ will likely work with vertically focused efforts (such as Electrolux’s work with Innit, which the company calls its “Taste OS”), as well as act as a underlying and unifying technology architecture across all their various product lines. In that sense, it could ultimately look something like BSH Appliances Home Connect platform, an IoT/smart home framework first rolled out by the German appliance conglomerate in 2014.

We’ll keep an eye out for what becomes of the ECP and let you know if we find out any more.

IoT-Enabled Cora Coffee Brewer is for Java Nerds Who are Tight on Space

Aaron Freyer got the idea for the Cora Coffee Brewer three years ago when he was packing up for a visit home to Portland, OR. “I got my suitcase out and pulled out my Chemex and my grinder and my scale — and realized it wasn’t going to fit,” he told me over the phone. “But at the same time, I was just getting into specialty coffee and I didn’t want to sacrifice quality.”

So he decided to develop a product that brewed excellent coffee but took up much less space: the Cora Coffee Brewer. At 4.7 inches in diameter and 9 inches tall, it is indeed petite, and can brew up to 13.4 oz (equivalent to one large cup of coffee). The Cora Brewer launched its first IndieGoGo campaign yesterday with a goal of $10,000.

Sure, if space is an issue you can always use an Aeropress or Kalita or even just a good old plastic drip cone. And all of those options are cheaper than the Cora, which Freyer says will retail for $199. That buys you the porcelain brewing carafe and the smart scale. But Freyer’s coffee brewer has two things going for it: 1) It’s IoT-enabled, and 2) It looks really nice.

The Cora brewer magnetically latches to a wood scale with bluetooth — but no interface. In order to see the scale’s reading, you have to open up a connected app, which will tell you the real-time weight readout of the Cora brewer in ounces or grams. It also has a built-in timer.

Though it attaches to the brewer, the scale can also be used independently to make tea, weigh packages, or bake. It has a rechargeable battery which lasts up to a month. When it needs juice, you can plug in the scale with a USB C charger.

As of now, that’s all the scale does. But Freyer said that the plan is to integrate that hardware with a more advanced app into the future. “It could almost gamify the process; it could say ’Hey, you’re pouring too slow,’ or recommend certain coffees to you,” he elaborated. Freyer has already developed the Cora app for iPhones and is working on one for Androids, as well as a way to sync the scale up to Apple watches.

Cora Coffee Brewer: Smart Pour-Over Coffee Brewer

 

Freyer is currently a senior in college at San Jose State and has a keen interest in industrial design. Which is why he wanted to make the Cora not only compact and connected, but also beautiful and well-made. And since its primary use case is in a smaller apartment, where every kitchen gadget and appliance is on display, aesthetics are important.

“I put a big focus on the quality of materials used,” he said. From vegetable-dyed leather to food safe porcelain to cherry hardwood, every aspect of the Cora screams “curated.” All parts are also manufactured and assembled in the U.S.

If he reaches his fundraising goal, Freyer says their first priority will be on jumpstarting the manufacturing process. “Everything is quoted and ready to be made,” he said. Which is why he’s confident that Cora can indeed reach its projected September ship date and avoid crowdfunding manufacturing delays.

Early backers can grab a limited number of Cora Coffee Brewers for $149 (once those run out, the price jumps to $169). Which is still a chunk of change. We’ll see if java-loving aesthetes are willing to pay for a device that looks as nice as the coffee it brews will taste.

Facebook’s New Patent Will Enable It To See Into Your Fridge & Suggest a Recipe

Facebook was issued a new patent today outlining a system that would allow users to access and control networked devices in the home through their mobile app and enable the social network to serve up ads based on the contents of a person’s fridge or other data gathered from inside the home.

The patent, called “Controlling Devices Through Social Media” (US patent #9,967,259), explains a number of scenarios in which Facebook users may access and control networked devices in the home. They also outlined how the could provide recommendations for the user based on data gathered from in-home sensors and cameras, as well as information from the person’s Facebook profile.

One such example has Facebook accessing a camera within a refrigerator and providing a meal recommendation. From the patent:

As an example and not by way of limitation, a refrigerator may include cameras to take pictures of items placed in the refrigerator and upload the images to the cloud, where image recognition may be performed upon the images, and an identification of the items may be provided to the refrigerator. As another example, a refrigerator may retrieve recipes from the cloud based on the items in the refrigerator and user-preference information from the user’s social network.

Facebook’s patent also outlines how it could notify the user when their milk is about to expire or they’re out of eggs. If that isn’t weird or creepy enough, they also outline scenarios where they would send targeted advertising to people within the person’s social graph.

From the patent:

“…as an example and not by way of limitation, a user may purchase a particular brand of hot sauce, and a target group of users may receive a notification based on their affinity for that brand of hot sauce or for hot sauce in general.”

Now, it may seem a bit strange for Facebook to be pushing even further into our lives at a time when many of us (including the government) have a heightened concern about how much information we provide to the social network. But in its defense, the patent was filed back in a simpler time – July 2014 – when many of today’s privacy concerns weren’t as front and center.

It also should be noted that at the time Facebook filed its patent, it had grand designs on making Facebook an IoT platform. However, in 2016 the company decided to shelve Parse, the IoT platform it had spent a few years developing.

All that said, it’s worth keeping an eye on this patent in case Facebook decides to revive its push to connect itself to our physical world.

Video: Grove CEO Gabe Blanchet Has Big Plans for Home Farming

If you’re like me, right now you have a pot of thyme (or rosemary, or basil) clinging to life on your windowsill. No matter how much I water it or how carefully I place it in the sunshine, I cannot keep plants alive—even simple indoor ones like herbs.

This is a huge bummer because, while I love to cook with fresh herbs, they can be quite pricey at the grocery store, tend to wilt in the fridge within days, and aren’t always of the highest quality. But home growing systems like Grove are trying to help those without green thumbs (guilty) transform their kitchens, living rooms, and empty garages into mini indoor farms.

A model of how Grove’s indoor farming systems would function in the home.

Though they’re not the only ones leveraging IoT to make indoor growing kits, Grove is thinking big to bring home farming systems to wide swaths of consumers. In order to get consumers to install growing systems in their house, they’ve got to a) look nice, and b) deliver good, consistent results. Grove has teamed up with major appliance and furniture companies to check both of these boxes: Blanchet and his team will provide home ag software and seed pods, and their partners will create custom indoor farming hardware to match.

Grove showed off their initial hydroponic home farming system at the Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase in 2016. He returned in 2017 and sat down with SKS founder Mike Wolf to talk about the future of small-scale indoor farming and how he’s able to grow 30-40% of his own food, right at home.

Watch the video and then head over here to check out more videos from Smart Kitchen Summits of yore.

Got a food tech startup idea of your own? Apply for our Startup Showcase for SKS Europe, June 11-12th in Dublin, Ireland. 

BruVue Nabs $1 Million In Seed Funding For IoT-Powered Beer Tracking System

Ask any pub owner, and they’ll tell you one of the biggest challenges of running a bar is inventory management. Between friendly pours, foaming and flat beer, approximately 20% of each keg is wasted.

So wouldn’t it be great if bar managers could track where all those lost suds are going? That’s exactly what BruVue, a startup with an IoT tracking system for beer, wants to help them do. BruVue’s beer tracking platform, which includes a sensor system installed at each tap, allows bar managers to track keg levels, foaming, and actual vs. paid pours. The system also enables bars to move to digital beer menus instead of printing them on paper.

You can watch the BruVue system in action below:

The company, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, announced a $1 million seed funding this week, which they plan on using to scale distribution of their product. And while BruVue’s technology is primarily targeted at the pro market, they also announced they won the Heineken Innovator’s Brewhouse Challenge, a competition by Heineken to find innovations that enhance the home draft experience.  BruVue walked away with first prize by applying their beer tracking technology to Heineken’s home pour system, the SUB.

BruVue isn’t the only startup applying IoT technology to beer. Pubbino, a startup from Istanbul, says its Taptronics automated system’s “smart foam” algorithm can create a perfect pour. Unlike the BruVue system which allows bar owners to use existing taps, the Taptronics system requires the bar to install their smart taps.

Once signed up,  BruVue customers pay a monthly subscription fee for each tap sensor, which gives them access to the company’s analytics dashboard and app.  Pricing ranges from $10-$20 per tap per month depending on the length of the contract.