Electrolux Bud

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Bud is a fun and educational device that lets users taste food recipes that can be viewed or created within the device, allowing them to learn new culinary skills without wasting food in the process.

Culinary skills should be taught to children at a young age, because it does not only make them self-reliant, but also encourages them to eat healthy. However, learning new recipes can be hard even for parents - it takes time, effort and resources. This is where Bud comes in – a digital educational game, where children are free to explore and experiment with various food ingredients and products, thus learning recipes or creating new ones altogether. Any product or recipe stored inside the game memory can be physically tasted with Samplers – miniature spoon-like devices that send digital signals via taste buds. With Bud, the user can learn how to make various recipes with little effort in a fun way, as well as develop healthy eating habits. The main aspect of my concept that I tried to improve at this stage was the user interface. The game had to be realistically accurate, yet the interface itself needed to be simple and user-friendly.

My main source of inspiration was the fact that many teenagers or young adults lack basic knowledge in cooking. Reasons for this vary from their reluctance to learn (most of the time they see cooking as a chore rather than an activity or hobby) to their parents being too busy to teach them or not possessing the necessary skills themselves, which normally leads to unhealthy eating habits ( excessive consumption of fast-food, junk food, frozen meals).

Children could safely learn how to cook without causing potential harm to the kitchen or themselves. Families would be able try out new food recipes, which they might be reluctant to do as it would require time, effort and resources. Parents would also have an easier time managing food resources because knowing their children’s preference in meals would help them better evaluate, which food products to buy, thus saving money and avoiding food waste, which is becoming a global issue.

Bud’s most iconic feature is being able to physically taste culinary dishes that are digitally stored in the device with the help of Samplers. In theory, flavor is a combination of four types of tastes: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. By breaking down these tastes into code, Bud is able to transfer this data to a Sampler, which then converts the code into electric signals. The tip of the Sampler is covered by electrodes, which send signals to the user’s taste buds upon contact. The spoon-like device is also capable of thermoregulation, being able to imitate the temperature of food. For hygienic purposes, a Sampler can imitate taste for a set amount of time (10-20 seconds), after which it deactivates. For it to be reactivated, the Sampler must be put back into Bud, where it is disinfected with UV light. The idea of this functionality is based on a real-world prototype, which was made by a team of researchers in the National University of Singapore, lead by Nimesha Ranasinghe.