Wine waiters could be replaced by AI thanks to bot with ‘electronic tongue’

WINE waiters could be replaced by AI after a bot was taught to recog­nise the taste of liquids.

The “electronic tongue” can tell the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Alamy

And it knows if milk has gone off.

The device uses electrodes to detect the liquid.

Then AI mimicking the brain’s neural network deter­mines what exactly it is.

Experts say it could assess quality, freshness and authenticity of both food and drink.

In tests at Penn State University in the US, it operated with 80 per cent accuracy.

The study said it could see AI tech grade wine and even make recommendations.

Author Saptarshi Das said: “We’re trying to make an artificial tongue, but the process of how we experience different foods involves more than just the tongue.

“We have the tongue itself, consisting of taste receptors that interact with food species and send their information to the gustatory cortex — a biological neural network.”

Separate US trials saw a robot tongue tell when wine had gone bad.