Autonomous food station
A novel food station comprises first and second pluralities of cubbies, each sized to enclose a food portion container, and a food collection hatch that is selectively externally accessible. A heating system can controllably heat one or more of the first plurality of cubbies independently of the first plurality of cubbies, and a cooling system can cool one or more of the second plurality of cubbies independently of the first plurality of cubbies. An internal transport system including an end effector that temporarily couples to the portion container carrier of a selected cooled cubby of the second plurality of cubbies and can controllably move the food portion container carrier to a selected heated cubby or to the food collection hatch.
1. A food station comprising:
first and second pluralities of cubby enclosures, each cubby enclosure sized to enclose a food portion container and accept a portion container carrier that can hold the food portion container;
a collection hatch large enough for the food portion container to pass therethrough, the collection hatch being externally accessible;
a heating system that controllably heats one or more of the first plurality of cubby enclosures independently of the second plurality of cubby enclosures;
a cooling system that cools one or more of the second plurality of cubby enclosures independently of the first plurality of cubby enclosures;
an internal transport system including an end effector that temporarily couples to the portion container carrier of a selected cooled cubby enclosure of the second plurality of cubby enclosures and controllably moves the food portion container carrier within the food station to a selected heated cubby enclosure of the first plurality of cubby enclosures; and
a control system including a memory that controls the heating and controls the movement of the internal transport system;
wherein the internal transport system can controllably move the food portion container to the collection hatch.
2. The food station of claim 1 wherein the one or more of the second plurality of cubby enclosures are cooled together as a group.
3. The food station of claim 1 wherein the cooling system includes a blower and an insulated air duct between an evaporator of a refrigeration system and the second plurality of cubby enclosures.
4. The food station of claim 1 wherein the portion container carrier includes front plate with a handle for coupling to the end effector.
5. The food station of claim 1 wherein the collection hatch includes an external shutter that can be actuated by the control system to selectively control the external accessibility of the collection hatch.
6. The food station of claim 5 wherein the collection hatch includes an internal shutter that can be actuated by the control system to selectively deny access from the collection hatch to an interior of the food station while the external shutter is open.
7. The food station of claim 1 wherein internal transport system includes controllable mechanical actuators that translate the end effector in three orthogonal directions, each forming an axis of a Cartesian coordinate system.
8. The food station of claim 1 wherein the first plurality of cubby enclosures are arranged in an array of rows, one row above another, and the heating system can heat each row independently of the other rows.
9. The food station of claim 8 wherein the heating system includes horizontally-oriented heating elements disposed beneath each of the plurality of rows.
10. The food station of claim 1 wherein the heating system includes electrically resistive heating elements through which an electrical current is forced.
11. The food station of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first plurality of cubby enclosures includes a microwave magnetron for directing microwave radiation to controllably heat an enclosed food portion container.
12. The food station of claim 1 wherein the stored information includes a heating instruction corresponding to the food portion container.
13. The food station of claim 1 wherein the stored information includes a scheduled time for collection of the food portion container by a customer.
14. The food station of claim 9 wherein the stored information includes a key for customer identity verification.
15. The food station of claim 1 further comprising communication electronics capable of receiving information via the internet, and the stored information includes information received via the internet.
16. The food station of claim 1 further comprising a label scanner, the stored information including information read by the label scanner from a label on the food portion container.
17. The food station of claim 13 wherein the internal transport system controllably moves the food portion container carrier within the food station to an internal identification site that includes the label scanner.
18. The food station of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first plurality of cubby enclosures includes a humidifier for controllably increasing the relative humidity of the air within that cubby enclosure.
19. The food station of claim 1 wherein at least one of the second plurality of cubby enclosures includes a desiccant for decreasing the relative humidity of the air within that cubby enclosure.
20. The food station of claim 1 wherein each cubby enclosure in the first and second plurality of cubby enclosures can be independently heated by the heating system and cooled by the cooling system.
21. A food station comprising:
first and second pluralities of cubbies, each cubby sized to enclose a food portion container and accept a portion container carrier that can hold the food portion container;
a collection hatch large enough for the food portion container to pass therethrough, the collection hatch being externally accessible;
a heating system that controllably heats one or more of the first plurality of cubbies independently of the second plurality of cubbies;
a cooling system that cools one or more of the second plurality of cubbies independently of the first plurality of cubbies;
an internal transport system including an end effector that temporarily couples to the portion container carrier of a selected cooled cubby of the second plurality of cubbies and controllably moves the food portion container carrier within the food station to a selected heated cubby of the first plurality of cubbies; and
a control system including a memory that controls the heating and controls the movement of the internal transport system;
wherein the internal transport system can controllably move the food portion container to the collection hatch;
wherein the cooling system includes a blower and an insulated air duct between an evaporator of a refrigeration system and the second plurality of cubbies; and
wherein the insulated air duct is a dual coaxial air duct with air flow towards the second plurality of cubbies within an inner duct portion and return air flow back to the evaporator within an outer duct portion.