Two Panasonic engineers were able to develop a unique rice cooker that not only cooked food effectively but also softened it sufficiently to be sliced with a potato chip.
This smart home gadget is intended for Japanese seniors who have trouble swallowing food. If you have trouble chewing food, this machine could be your best friend in the kitchen.
How Does the DeliSofter Rice Cooker Work?
According to the Japan Times, two women working at Panasonic have devised a food softening tool for folks who have difficulty masticating their consumables.
Panasonic engineers collaborated with Gifmo to sell this rice cooker, which can turn a chicken into a very soft dish that even the elderly can consume. The process of softening the food necessitates exposing it to extremely high heat, which can exceed 120 degrees Celsius.
According to Gifmo, even if the machine makes the meal more digestible than ever before, it does not affect the texture or appearance of the food. Furthermore, the business stated that seniors could now mash their meal with their mouth using only this DeliSofter pot.
Over the last few years, Japan has been looking into a variety of ways to make life simpler for the elderly. The Delisofter rice cooker is only one of its most recent products for the elderly. Because the country has a large number of persons over the age of 65, it must adapt its technology to meet their needs.
Panasonic expects its food-focused joint venture with Gifco to generate $1.7 billion (200 billion yen) in Japan by 2025. In the future, the food section may expand to other countries.
DeliSofter’s Beginnings
According to a separate article from Bloomberg on Thursday, Nov. 25, the creation of DeliSofter began with Megumi Ogawa, a long-time Panasonic employee who was struggling to care for her father in his final days.
Despite her father’s swallowing difficulties, Ogawa was assisting him in eating his favorite foods at the time. As a result, her father’s sole option would be the liquid meals that are commonly offered to individuals with eating disorders.
Ogawa stated that she would spend $880 per month only to meet his nutritional demands. It changed, however, when she and her colleague Tokie Mizuno collaborated to design a product that became DeliSofter.
They had no idea what the outcome of the smart home rice cooker will be, but they all agreed on why it should be made. Mizuno, like Ogawa, struggled to care for her grandmother, who had eating issues.
Panasonic asked Ogawa and Mizuno to return to their employment as quality assurance officials, but they instead agreed to work on a volunteer initiative with Gifmo to create the DeliSofter rice cooker.
Gifmo’s CEO, Masaru Morizane, considered DeliSofter to be the best product they had encountered thus far.
“Just as appliances like washing machines freed women from housework and allowed them to be more active in society, we won’t stop until we liberate people from nursing care,” Mizuno said.