There are two kinds of people in this world: those that can cook, and those that tend to burn anything they put on the stovetop. If you’re one of the latter, making your own meals is a struggle — especially when you’ve constantly got to run out of the kitchen to wave a blanket at the smoke alarm. But there’s still hope for you.
Pantelligent is a freshly launched Kickstarter project that aims to make stovetop cooking completely foolproof. On the outside it looks and feels just like any other frying pan, but under the hood it’s got a few tricks that make it smarter than your average skillet. In addition to a temperature sensor embedded in the center of the pan, Pantelligent is also equipped with a Bluetooth LE radio in the handle, so it can relay temperature data to your phone or tablet.
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Once you’re all synced up, the pan’s accompanying mobile app can tell you how hot the pan is, how hot it should be, and even let you know when it’s time to add ingredients, stir, or flip. All you’ve got to do is follow the alerts and adjust the heat of your stove as directed. Pantelligent’s software knows the ideal cooking times and temperatures for a myriad of different foods, so as long as you can follow directions, you’ll end up with a perfectly cooked dish every time.
The pan’s creators have already produced several working prototypes, and after beta testing their product for the better part of 2014, the Pantelligent team has finally taken to Kickstarter to raise money for volume production. If you back the project now during the crowdfunding stage, you can lock down one of these sensor-studded frying pans for a pledge of about 200 bucks. Barring any hiccups in the manufacturing process, and assuming the campaign meets its $30,000 funding goal, the Pantelligent team expects to ship the first units to backers as early as August 2015.
