Breakfast Bot Does Eggs To Perfection

Breakfast is a meal fraught with paradoxes. It’s important to start the day with a hearty meal full of energy and nutrition, but it’s also difficult to cook when you’re still bleary-eyed and half asleep. As with many problems in life, automation is the answer. [James Bruton] has the rig that will boil your egg and get your day off to a good start.

The basic apparatus uses a thermostatically controlled hotplate to heat a pot of water. [James] then employs an encoder-controlled linear actuator from a previous project to raise and lower a mesh colander into the pot, carrying the egg. An Arduino is used to measure the water temperature, only beginning the cooking process once the temperature is over 90 degrees Celsius. At this point, a 6-minute timer starts, with the egg being removed from the water and dumped out by a servo-controlled twist mechanism.

Future work will include servo control of the hotplate’s knob and building a chute to catch the egg to further reduce the need for human intervention. While there’s some danger in having an automated hotplate on in the house, this could be synchronized with an RTC to ensure your boiled egg is ready on time, every day.

Breakfast machines are a grand tradition around these parts, and we’ve seen a few in our time. Video after the break.

[Thanks to Baldpower for the tip!]

 

13 thoughts on “Breakfast Bot Does Eggs To Perfection

  1. I would have made a steamer. Take a closed container with a bit of water in the bottom, eggs suspended above it. Then turn on heat. Easier construction and also more even cooking.

    1. Easier construction but harder job for the robot, bringing an egg into the container and applying the lid well enough to seal the steam in. You know you’re a boiled egg snob when your response is “but where’s the cold water bath to shock the egg and prevent green rings around the yolk?”

      1. There should be NO tight seal. Most steam egg cookers I’ve seen had a hole for steam to escape. Also I don’t think shocking with cold water prevents those green rings, they always appear after some time.

    2. I think this is how those cheap egg-cookers work. They are just a heating element with a thermocouple set to just above 100 C. You put a calculated (depending on how many eggs to cook) amount of water in and turn it on. Once the water boils away it’ll cut off a the temp rises above 100. The amount of water determines the cooking time.

  2. It would probably be better to use a kettle element in the water rather than a hot-plate.
    Maybe re-shape one of these for the most efficient egg-boiling experience and minimum water use:
    https://www.amazon.com/Travel-Immersion-Water-Heater-Voltage/dp/B000AXS0UE
    With a fresh-water valve at the top and drain valve at the bottom it could even then purge the egg water and make a nice pot of tea to go with the egg.
    A solution to the toast conundrum is required but caution would be needed there: https://youtu.be/LRq_SAuQDec

  3. I have only got green rings from overcooking hardboiled eggs.

    Large pot of water to rolling boil (too small a pot and the eggs will drop the temperature of the water too much)
    Gently submerge eggs with spoon.
    Set timer for 7min ( 6.5min if you want them soft boiled)
    Immediately pull eggs and submerge in ice bath. ( Be ready )

    Ice shock also helps them peel easier.

    I find if you cooked it hard enough to get a green ring, you have also turned the yolk into chaulk.

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