If you’ve lived through the 80s and 90s its possible you would have
seen one version of a ‘chapati maker’ in your house which was supposed
to ease your burden.However,these machines while electric required you to roll the dough, flatten it, watch it cook and even flip it.
Then there are the giant chapati makers in mass kitchens (like this one) that churn out hundreds of rotis for hundreds of people.
Rotimatic, developed over the
past six years, is the first kitchen device to use robotic technology to
make hot, fresh rotis -- low-calorie, whole wheat unleavened flatbreads
that originated in India and consumed by millions of people around the
world daily. Rotimatic simplifies healthy eating with its patented
artificial intelligence system that measures and mixes the correct ratio
of flour and water to deliver one roti per minute. These rotis can be
used to create wraps, flatbread pizzas, quesadillas and much more for a
healthy, fiber-rich addition to users' diets.
Key Features of the Rotimatic:
- Customized options: One size certainly does not fit all. Choose the thickness, softness, amount of oil and type of flour on a digital LCD panel, so you know exactly what you're getting.
- Healthy: Rotis are low-carb, whole wheat, only 106 calories and rich in vitamins/minerals.
- Instant: Rotimatic makes one roti each minute, and can create perfectly sized dough balls for frying / baking in seconds.
- Simple Cleaning: Rotimatic comes with detachable, dishwasher-safe components.
"We
are absolutely thrilled with the customer response to the Rotimatic
after our first week of availability in the U.S. market," said Rishi
Israni, Zimplistic CEO and co-founder. "Zimplistic is changing the way
people think about cooking by bringing them a smarter way to prepare
food, and customers have been extremely receptive to and excited about
this concept."
"Rotimatic
has started a new wave of kitchen robotics! After the success of the
Rotimatic, we are ready to move forward with our other ideas on how to
bring beautiful smart devices to all parts of your kitchen," says
Pranoti Nagarkar, Zimplistic CTO and co-founder. "Zimplistic's ultimate
goal is to bring health with convenience, and simplifying the cooking
process with the Rotimatic is just the beginning for us."
"The
Rotimatic is such a revolutionary product that our challenge was to
design a marketing strategy which does justice to its breakthrough
nature, on a startup budget," said Aman Pratap, Zimplistic Head Of
Marketing. "Our team spent months refining our launch campaign leading
into this extremely successful U.S. launch. We can't wait to continue
this success with the launch in additional markets around the world."
Zimplistic's
pre-order will be shipped on a first-come-first-serve basis to
customers from early 2015 onwards. The pre-order limit has been reached,
but customers can order their Rotimatics in the retail sale starting in
late 2015 at $999 per unit. In the United States, California was the
most popular location for the Rotimatic, followed by New Jersey, Texas
and New York.
For more information, visit www.rotimatic.com.
About Zimplistic
Zimplistic
is disrupting the way in which we make food at home with the world's
first robotic cooking technology, the Rotimatic. Rotimatic's patented
AI-based technology makes it easy for anyone to have fresh, low calorie,
low carb and whole wheat flatbreads in seconds. By simply adding in the
flour of your choice, water and oil in individually designated
compartments, the Rotimatic measures & mixes the correct ratio of
ingredients to deliver one hot, fresh and puffy Roti, or flatbread, per
minute using state-of-the-art technology. Rotimatic is creating the next
generation of cooking with an easy-to-use & instant device that
promotes simple, healthy eating. Founded in 2008, Zimplistic has offices
in Singapore and Mountain View, CA. For more information, visit www.rotimatic.com.
According to a post on Mashable, the company has managed to get pre-sales worth $4.5 million and "even the initial run of Rotimatics won’t arrive in consumers’ hands until early 2015."
The device is priced at a hefty $599 (that's close to Rs 35,000) but it seems that hasn't stopped people from pre-ordering. It is currently sold-out in the US and Singapore pre-order batch, although the company will launch a version for India as well.
According to the FAQ page on the company's website , the India price will be lower than the US price, which is good news. We wonder though how low it will be priced in India. The page notes, "The price of Rotimatic will vary by market and is dependent on factors such as after-sales partnerships, local taxes, logistics and the cost of doing business in each market. For example, the price in India will be lower than the price in the USA given economies of scale."
Rotimatic is already sold out for 2015.
The Rotimatic is a compact robot with the following dimensions: 40 by 40 by 45 cm. It weighs 18kg and has a power consumption of 1.6kW – 1.8kW. At 18 kgs, it is fairly heavy device and will take a lot of space, especially if its a tiny kitchen in Mumbai.
The cool thing is that users can set the preference of the roti size by diameter. They can also add chilis, turmeric, other dry flavour to the rotis as well. There's a separate compartment to hold oil, water and the flour. The machine uses hot plates to heat up the rotis until they are puffed and ready.
Mashable's piece has a full hands-on with the device as well and gives a good idea of how it actually works.
They noted in their piece, "The final product is (the roti), as advertised, a perfectly shaped and cooked roti that looks and tastes like it was made by expert hands."
Also cleaning of the device (always important when it comes to a cooking appliance) is simple they note. According to the piece, "the kneader comes out, and can be rinsed off or put in your dishwasher, as can the plate where Rotimatic rolls the dough balls."
