MATRIX CONFIGURED GRILL APPARATUS

1 . A cooking system comprising:

a matrix configured grilling apparatus that includes a plurality of grill modules forming a grid of grills, each grill in the plurality of grill modules being thermally isolated, having an egress for inserting and removing foodstuff, and being individually and digitally controllable, and

a movable end effector that is digitally controllable and that inserts and removes foodstuff from each grill of the plurality of grill modules.

2 . The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of grill modules each includes a single grill.

3 . The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of grill modules comprises a plurality of rows of grills forming an integrated module.

4 . The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of grill modules comprises a plurality of columns of grills forming an integrated module.

5 . The system of claim 1 wherein each grill in each module of grills is shaped as a rectangular parallelepiped.

6 . The system of claim 1 further including a first articulating arm, which is digitally controllable and includes a first end effector to insert and remove foodstuff in each grill.

7 . The system of claim 1 further including a gantry system which is digitally controllable and includes an end effector to insert and remove foodstuff in each grill.

8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the gantry system includes a plurality of gantry track components that are digitally controllable to control placement of the end effector.

9 . The system of claim 8 wherein the gantry system includes a vertical track component that raises and lowers the end effector.

10 . The system of claim 9 wherein the gantry system further includes a plurality of horizontal track components to horizontally position the end effector.

11 . The system of claim 10 wherein the plurality of horizontal track components includes a first horizontal track component that moves the end effector parallel to a front plane of the grill matrix.

12 . The system of claim 11 wherein a plurality of horizontal track components includes a second horizontal track component that moves the end effector perpendicularly to the front plane of the grill matrix.

13 . The system of claim 6 wherein the first articulating arm controls the first end effector to insert and remove foodstuff from a front-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus, and the system further includes a rear-side articulating arm, which is digitally controllable and includes a rear-side end effector to insert and remove foodstuff from a rear-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus.

14 . The system of claim 12 wherein the gantry system includes an overhead track system for moving the end effector between a front-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus and a rear-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus to insert and/or remove foodstuff from a front-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus and a rear-side of the matrix configured grilling apparatus.

15 . The system of claim 6 wherein the first end effector includes one or more of a spatula, tongs, a fork, a spoon and a knife.

16 . The system of claim 7 wherein the end effector includes one or more of a spatula, tongs, a fork, a spoon and a knife.

17 . The system of claim 13 wherein each end effector includes one or more of a spatula, tongs, a fork, a spoon and a knife.

18 . The system of claim 6 including a digital controller that communicates over a network to individually control each grill, the first articulating arm and the first end effector.

19 . The system of claim 7 including a digital controller that communicates over a network to individually control each grill, the gantry system and the end effector.

20 . The system of claim 13 including a digital controller that communicates over a network to individually control each grill, each articulating arm and each end effector.