For those of us who know nothing about wines, here is your salvation. This robot developed by NEC and Mie University in Japan can help… for the price of a new car. OK, so it is a work in progress, the makers hope to get the cost below $1000, but this little guy is AWESOME. This robot scans wines, cheeses and other foods with hisleft arm, reading the reflected light to “taste” the wine. It goes as far as to tell you the brand, a few characteristics and even recommends food pairings.
Because it reads the chemical composition of foods using light waves, it can distinguish between a sweet and sour apple. That said, the robot the robot also tagged a camera man as prosciutto. So it is not perfect and it can only single out a few dozen of the thousand of wines out there, it doesn’t matter. If you can afford this little guy, go for it. At least you can impress you friends.