Panasonic Fridges with AI Camera Help People Cook Smarter and Shop Better While Reducing Food Waste

At CEATEC 2024, Panasonic show it An AI-powered refrigeratorlaunched in Japan in Spring/Summer 2024. This AI-driven refrigerator has features smart food management technology that improves people’s lives while reducing food waste. Installed by integrated outdoor AI camerathis smart refrigerator can recognize about 45 types of vegetables, track their youthand praise recipes use ingredients that are closest to their best-before date. Linked to The Live Pantry appusers can check the contents of the fridge remotely*, preventing forgotten or duplicate purchases.

In addition to its advanced smart features, the refrigerator includes “IW-Shaki-Shaki (meaning Double Crispy) Crisper Drawer Plus,” which improves humidity levels keep vegetables fresh for 7 daysto support better food preservation. This integration of AI and IoT provides a a simple solution for buying and planning food, making it easier for users to make decisions while we are promoting sustainability by reducing food waste and helping people eat fresh food before it spoils.

Panasonic “AI Fridge Camera” With Two Smart Cameras And Live Pantry App, How Does It Work?

Look Inside the Refrigerator, Cold Room, Vegetable Cabinet (clear) and Freezer Drawer.

The “Panasonic Refrigerator AI Camera” provides a unique, detailed view of the contents of the refrigerator, using two cameras – one wide-angle lens in the front center and a narrow telephoto lens in the front left. Every time the refrigerator door is opened, a wide-angle camera captures the interior shelves and door pockets, while a narrow-angle camera captures the vegetable and freezer drawers every time they are opened.

Panasonic’s AI system uses markers to identify the upper and lower cases of vegetable drawers and freezers. The company claims that its technology is the only one capable of providing a full view of these compartments and accurately identifying their internal components.

Photos captured by the cameras take a few minutes to appear in the Live Pantry compatible app. When the doors open at least 90 degrees, and the drawers are fully extended, the system provides a clear view of the contents of the refrigerator, although some areas, such as the cold sections and door pockets, may not work. This new system allows users to monitor stored items easily through the app.

Computer Vision Identifies and Monitors 45 Vegetables in the Vegetable Cabinet

Panasonic’s new refrigerator technology uses an AI-powered camera to capture and identify 45 types of vegetables in the “Double Crispy” vegetable drawer. This program sees a variety of products, including carrots, broccoli, bok shoi, spinach, enoki mushrooms, and komatsuna. It identifies vegetables by shape and appearance, even when cut, with irregular or similar shapes, such as spinach and bok choi. The program records the last date of each vegetable in a condensed period. This data is fed into the Live Pantry app, which sorts vegetables by freshness, prioritizing items closer to expiration. Users can also add other ingredients manually, complete with expiration dates, to help ensure a complete overview of all stored items.

AI-Powered Recipe Suggestions to Reduce Food Waste and Improve People’s Shopping Success

Building on this innovation tracking, AI provides recipe and daily menu suggestions to help reduce food waste and simplify meal planning. Using recorded storage dates, the Live Pantry app recommends recipes using ingredients that are nearing expiration. This feature not only supports sustainable consumption by reducing food waste but also simplifies food preparation and purchasing management. With timely recipe recommendations based on leftover ingredients, users can better plan meals and shopping trips, making the refrigerator a useful partner in food management.

Panasonic’s Double Crispy (W-Shaki-Shaki) Vegetable Cabinet Feature – Extends 7 Days of Freshness.

Panasonic Outdoor AI Camera Can Be a Good AI Self-Vision Solution for Smart Fridge Detection

I Panasonic NR-F53CV1-K and NR-E46CV1-K AI Camera Refrigerator models (currently sold only in Japan; stay tuned) stand out with an AI-powered camera solution for food handling. Panasonic offers an effective computer vision, accessibility, and outdoor AI camera for refrigerators. Unlike other premium brands that include cameras inside the refrigerator with limited AI vision features, Panasonic’s outdoor AI camera not only reduces costs but also opens up the possibility of an independent AI vision solution that adapts to various refrigerator conditions.

As Panasonic’s representative at CEATEC shared, this outdoor AI camera may be sold outside of certain refrigerator models, aiming for wide accessibility and mass adoption in a market where high-tech refrigerator features are still luxury (as far as I know, $5000 to $15000 refrigerators. still offer fridge cameras with some AI features).

Historically, some high-end consumer competitors have started the trend of refrigerator cameras, with models that support features such as indoor tracking, creating a shopping list, and tracking the food you eat.

As far as I know, only one known name (for the US market, as of Jan 2024) recently said it sees 33 different ingredients in consumers’ fridges, focusing on food preferences but prioritizing customization over reducing food waste.

In contrast, Panasonic’s AI technology boasts recognition of 45 different vegetables, greatly improving its ability to manage food freshness and promote sustainable consumption. Priced at around $2259 and $2066*, respectively, the vision-enabled models NR-F53CV1-K and NR-E46CV1-K AI focus exclusively on preventing food waste by suggesting recipes based on fresh produce and complete menus.

*Based on today’s Yen/USD exchange rate

Filed Cell Phones >Events >Green >Home. Read more about AI (Artificial Intelligence), CEATEC, Ceatec 2024, Food, Panasonic, Refrigerator, Smart Home and Sustainability.