- Sashimi-Bot is a three-armed robotic system that prepares sashimi from a raw salmon loin without a chef in sight.
- The robot successfully cut 34 slices of salmon during testing.
- It successfully grasped 26 of the 28 slices that fell onto the cutting board with chopsticks.
- The knife arm uses a GelSight tactile sensor to detect pressure and deformation at the blade tip.
- Each cut cycle averaged 27.9 seconds.
- The system represents a milestone in robotic manipulation of deformable, volumetric objects.
- The first arm stabilizes and positions the salmon on the cutting board.
- The third arm picks up each finished slice with chopsticks and transfers it to a serving tray.
- Manipulation policies were trained via deep reinforcement learning in simulation and transferred to the real robot without additional real-world tuning.
- The GelSight sensor was trained on 12,397 readings from 157 cutting motions, achieving 95% accuracy in detecting blade-to-board contact.
Sashimi-Bot, developed by a team at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, is a groundbreaking robotic system designed to prepare sashimi from raw salmon. This innovative three-armed robot operates without human intervention, utilizing advanced tactile sensing technology to ensure precision in slicing.1
The robot's first arm stabilizes and positions the salmon on the cutting board, while the second arm slices the fish using a chef's knife equipped with a GelSight tactile sensor. This sensor, which has been trained on 12,397 readings from 157 cutting motions, allows the robot to detect pressure and deformation at the blade tip, achieving an impressive 95% accuracy in detecting blade-to-board contact, with 99% precision and 67% recall.710
During testing, Sashimi-Bot successfully cut 34 slices of salmon, grasping 26 of 28 slices that fell onto the cutting board with chopsticks. Additionally, it retrieved six slices that had stuck to the knife blade. Each cut cycle averaged 27.9 seconds, demonstrating the robot's efficiency in food preparation.25
The research team noted that this work represents a milestone in robotic manipulation of deformable, volumetric objects, potentially inspiring a wide range of real-world applications beyond culinary tasks.6
The paper states the work 'represents a milestone in robotic manipulation of deformable, volumetric objects that may inspire and enable a wide range of other real-world applications.'
“Sashimi-Bot, developed by a team at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, uses tactile sensing to prepare sashimi from raw salmon. The robot successfully cut 34 slices during testing, demonstrating advanced robotic manipulation capabilities.”
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