MIT Students Design AI-Powered 'Kitchen Cosmo' Device

The interactive kitchen appliance aims to provide personalized recipe generation and cooking assistance.

Feb. 4, 2026 at 3:31am

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MIT students Jacob Payne and Ayah Mahmoud have designed an AI-powered interactive device called 'Kitchen Cosmo' that can generate personalized recipes based on available ingredients and user preferences. The device, inspired by the 1960s 'Honeywell 316 Kitchen Computer', uses a large language model to provide cooking instructions and suggestions, while also having a physical interface for users to input their needs. The students worked to ensure the AI could understand real-world cooking parameters and flavor profiles to produce viable recipes.

Why it matters

The 'Kitchen Cosmo' project explores how artificial intelligence can be integrated into physical objects to provide more contextual and useful assistance beyond just screen-based interactions. As AI language models become more advanced, there is growing interest in finding ways to apply this technology to everyday tasks and objects to enhance the user experience.

The details

Payne and Mahmoud designed 'Kitchen Cosmo' to function as a 'recipe generator' that can provide personalized meal suggestions based on a user's available ingredients, cooking time, dietary preferences, and desired mood or vibe. The device has a webcam that can scan ingredients, and an integrated thermal printer to output recipes. The students worked to ensure the AI could properly account for factors like heating, timing, temperature, and flavor profiles to generate viable recipes, not just generic suggestions.

  • The 'Kitchen Cosmo' project was developed as part of MIT's class 4.043/4.044 (Interaction Intelligence) in 2026.

The players

Marcelo Coelho

Associate professor in the MIT Department of Architecture who has been teaching the Interaction Intelligence design studio and directs the Design Intelligence Lab.

Jacob Payne

An architecture graduate student at MIT who co-designed the 'Kitchen Cosmo' device.

Ayah Mahmoud

A senior design major at MIT who co-designed the 'Kitchen Cosmo' device.

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What they’re saying

“I came to the realization that, while powerful, these new forms of intelligence still remain largely ignorant of the world outside of language. They lack real-time, contextual understanding of our physical surroundings, bodily experiences, and social relationships to be truly intelligent. In contrast, LLOs are physically situated and interact in real time with their physical environment. The course is an attempt to both address this gap and develop a new kind of design discipline for the age of AI.”

— Marcelo Coelho, Associate professor, MIT Department of Architecture (Mirage News)

“As somebody who likes learning to cook - especially now, in college as an undergrad - the thought of designing something that makes cooking easy for those who might not have a cooking background and just wants a nice meal that satisfies their cravings was a great starting point for me.”

— Ayah Mahmoud, Senior design major, MIT (Mirage News)

“There were lots of small things that AI wasn't great at conceptually understanding. An LLM needs to fundamentally understand human taste to make a great meal.”

— Ayah Mahmoud, Senior design major, MIT (Mirage News)

What’s next

Payne and Mahmoud plan to continue iterating on the 'Kitchen Cosmo' device, exploring ways to further integrate AI capabilities to provide more advanced cooking assistance and personalization. Mahmoud is also considering incorporating the project into her thesis work to explore how AI can be trained to better understand food science and user preferences.

The takeaway

The 'Kitchen Cosmo' project demonstrates how artificial intelligence can be applied to physical objects and everyday tasks to enhance the user experience. By designing an interactive cooking assistant that goes beyond just screen-based interactions, the students are exploring new frontiers for AI-powered products that are more contextually aware and helpful in the real world.