Tablet Cutting Board: Tablet-based Knife-control Support System for Cookery Beginners

It is difficult for novice cooks to cut food evenly and quickly with a knife. In this study, we propose a learning support system for kitchen knife skills using a tablet terminal. The system aims to help novice cooks cut food evenly and vertically. The system has a function to display guide lines for cutting food, and a function to detect the movement of the knife using a touch panel and provide real-time feedback on whether the width of the cut food is appropriate or not. In addition, an inertial sensor was attached to the knife to estimate the tilt of the knife based on acceleration data, and a function was implemented to provide feedback on whether the knife is cutting at an appropriate angle or not. A prototype system was implemented, and the accuracy of estimating the width of the food and the accuracy of tilt detection were measured when the prototype system was used to cut the food. It was found that the prototype system was able to estimate the width of the food with an average error of 0.5 mm and the tilt of the knife with an average error of 0.5 degrees.