Smart mealtime assistant HelloSpoon raising funds at Indiegogo

Smart mealtime assistant HelloSpoon raising funds at Indiegogo

Mechanical engineer from Mexico Luis Garcia has developed a device that can automatically feed someone without relying on a human assistant.

Dubbed HelloSpoon, the product is positioned on the dining table and comes along with a special tilted bowl. An accompanying mat helps position the device and bowl for the mechanical spoon to accurately scoop the food up and deliver it to the mouth.

HelloSpoon is more affordable that competing solutions.Unlike similar products, HelloSpoon doesn’t have its own processor; rather it pairs with an Android smartphone and relies on its chip to do its magic. This in turn makes HelloSpoon more affordable that competing solutions.

Garcia offers the device in few different versions, including the developer kit, beta product and retail HelloSpoon Robot. These are available for $199, $399 and $499, and will ship in November 2014, January 2015 and March 2015, respectively.

Aside from helping feed the children and elderly, HelloSpoon will also try to cheer them up with phrases like “Are you ready to eat your breakfast?” and “It’s time to eat your meal, are you ready to have fun?” Moreover, it will play some music during the meal, and continue to cheer you on if you fancy so.

While all this sounds interesting, HelloSpoon is still far off from reaching its goal of $35,000 at Indiegogo. Perhaps it’s not really the kind of device made for crowdfunding, or perhaps the pitch could use some fine-tuning. We can’t really tell.