Tablet cutting board withstands knives, includes scale for measuring ingredients

Chop-Syc is a fully interactive chopping-board concept created by Siobhán Andrews as part of Sharp’s #GetItDownOnPaper competition. 

Aspiring inventors entered the competition in hopes of winning a two-month internship at the company’s Europe-based laboratories. The Sharp team was so smitten with the idea Andrews came up with that she not only won the part-time gig, Sharp also helped her turn the concept into reality by building a prototype during her internship. 

Using Sharp’s LCD technology, the Chop-Syc board is embedded with a sensitive digital touchscreen hooked up to Wi-Fi. It includes built-in scales to weigh ingredients based on recipe, and the weight is displayed on the chopping board itself. 

Worth noting about this feature is the ability to type in the number of people the user is cooking for—doing this will adjust the recipe portions, either scaling it up or down, to match the required amount.

There are other ways to control ingredient portions too — for example, if the user is cooking spaghetti, a circle shows up on the board that shows how much spaghetti (when held upright) is needed. The size of the circle changes as the number of people eating is increased or decreased.

“Siobhán’s design integrates Sharp’s heritage in both LCD screen technology and home technologies,” said Ian Thompson, managing director of Sharp Laboratories of Europe. “Not only was Siobhán’s idea innovative, the device also solves a genuine human need to tackle the global issue of obesity through the integration of healthy recipes and portion sizes.”

The toughened-glass front is designed to withstand the impact of knives as well as any juices that might come out from the ingredients being prepared. An additional benefit about this surface is that the user no longer needs to worry about touching the screen with wet fingers, as the tablet continues to function just fine. 

In terms of additional conveniences, Chop-Syc sits atop a charging mat to limit kitchen clutter, and one end is tapered slightly so the user can easily scrape ingredients into cooking pots and pans. Also, if the user is chopping up something quick and doesn’t need the scale or any portion direction, the board’s digital features are disabled, and wood-grain wallpaper is displayed as the chopping surface (as seen in the image above).

While there hasn’t been definitive word on whether or not Sharp will be bringing Chop-Syc to market, chances are that with a product as innovative as this one here, it’s more than likely we’ll be seeing it on nearby Bed, Bath and Beyond shelves pretty soon.

Learn more about the smart cutting board in the video below:

Story via: humansinvent.com