The Voice-Controlled Grill of the Future

By Drew Prindle February 11, 2014

Now that sensors and radios have become so ridiculously small and cheap, just about everything is becoming “smarter.”And now, thanks to a company called Lynx, that includes grills. Giving you more time to focus on drinking and destroying your friends at Polish horseshoes at your next cookout, the Lynx SmartGrill is an automated gas grill that allows you to change its settings from afar via voice commands or a mobile app. And if everything goes according to plan, this beauty should be ready for your backyard as early as next year.

Up top, this beast sports two infrared burners and two gas burners, giving you the best of both worlds in one convenient location. Additionally, tucked inside down near each of the cooking zones, you’ll find four temperature sensors that constantly give feedback to the grill’s onboard computer. With this information, the grill can self-regulate its heat and ensure that your food doesn’t overcook – even if you’re busy playing Polish horseshoes to pay attention to.

Using Lynx’s My Chef voice recognition tech, you can do stuff like preheat, change the cooking temp, or turn the grill off entirely – all without laying a finger on grill itself. Before you start grilling, it’ll ask you a series of questions about your recipe (type of meat, how well you like it cooked, etc.). Then, using its web-connected brain, it links to a database of grilling recipes and decides how long to cook the food and what grilling method is best. It’ll even tell you where to place the food on the grill to get the most consistent results.

We actually got a chance to check this badboy out firsthand at CES, and we can confirm that it lives up to all of Lynx’s claims. The voice recognition was snappy and responsive, operation was easy enough for a caveman to figure out, and the scallops and kabobs we made were cooked to absolute perfection. Lynx hasn’t yet released pricing details on the grill, but we’ll keep you posted on availability. for the time being, you can find out more here.

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