Fried egg robot…would you use it?

coolarj10 · April 1

Hi everyone! Would love your honest feedback.

I built a little egg-cooking robot for my family, and now I’m wondering if this is something worth pursuing more seriously.

Here’s what it does:

🥚 You drop in 1–2 eggs
🔥 It preheats, cracks, and fries them sunny-side-up
🕒 You can press start or set a timer so it’s ready when you are
🧼 The arms and pan are removable and dishwasher safe

Some background on why I made it:

My dad eats a fried egg every morning
My wife is usually rushing out the door and skips breakfast
I want a big breakfast, but when I’m in the zone with work, cooking feels like a disruption.

Here's a short demo video (link)

I’m trying to figure out if this is something worth taking to mass manufacturing or if it's too niche.

So I’d love your thoughts:

Would you use something like this?
If not, what would it need to do differently for you to consider it?

Any and all feedback is welcome! 🙏 (Also happy to send a test unit your way if you’re interested—DM me!)

Edited April 1 by coolarj10 (log)

rotuts · April 1

@coolarj10

this is quite clever

and took a lot of talent to create and produce.

but it does something so simple , its far more bother

then cracking an egg and simply frying it.

so , no , id never use it.

Tropicalsenior · April 1

I can appreciate your ingenuity but I would never buy something like this nor would I even want it as a gift. I avoid one trick ponies like the plague and I would never give them space in my kitchen.

liuzhou · April 1

Sorry, but no.

I agree with @Tropicalsenior

Also, I've seen so many things along these lines come and go, from cups that automatically stir your coffee to automated stir fry woks. They never succeed. There was even a trend here for automatic 'chefs' a couple of years back. None of the restaurants using them here lasted more than a few months.

Amusing ideas but ultimately just gimmicky.

Edited April 2 by liuzhou (log)

JeanneCake · April 2

maybe useful for someone with limited mobility (in a cast because of a broken wrist/arm, for example) or a home carer for an elderly person who could load it up with eggs and then they can have an egg if they are alone without worrying that they'll leave the range on. Maybe as a rental device, the way people rent medical equipment for a short duration.

I also think you are remarkably clever and you should continue to pursue this sort of thing.

pastrygirl · April 2

Does it alert you when the egg is done? I could see something like this in hotel breakfast bars next to the pancake tunnel if it had an egg storage and dispensing system and shell disposal so you didn't have to touch raw egg.

liuzhou · April 2

7 hours ago, coolarj10 said:

🔥 It preheats, cracks, and fries them sunny-side-up

What do you mean by 'it preheats'? Are you referring to the eggs being from the fridge? Please be aware that refrigerating eggs is a peculiarly American habit.

Also, only being able to do 'sunny side up' is a big limitation. Not everyone wants their fried eggs that way.

Tropicalsenior · April 2

29 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Also, only being able to do 'sunny side up' is a big limitation. Not everyone wants their fried eggs that way.

With that shape of pan that's about all you could do. It really should have an egg pan in case somebody would want to flip their eggs.

coolarj10 · April 2

Wow, thank you so much everyone for your candid feedback and thoughts! It's really helpful, and I'm very grateful!

8 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

I can appreciate your ingenuity but I would never buy something like this nor would I even want it as a gift. I avoid one trick ponies like the plague and I would never give them space in my kitchen.

Being a one trick pony is definitely a huge concern of mine. The main reason I got curious if something like this could be useful to others is because there are some one trick pony products out there that people seem to have gone bananas over.

Just this one egg boiler, for example, has over 127,000 reviews on Amazon! And all it does is boil eggs! Granted, it's super inexpensive...

image.png.9500c07ec46fe1d1ca97cd9eda52ab67.png

4 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

maybe useful for someone with limited mobility (in a cast because of a broken wrist/arm, for example) or a home carer for an elderly person who could load it up with eggs and then they can have an egg if they are alone without worrying that they'll leave the range on. Maybe as a rental device, the way people rent medical equipment for a short duration.

I also think you are remarkably clever and you should continue to pursue this sort of thing.

Thanks for the idea! Limited mobility was vaguely in the back of my mind but you pinpointed much clearer scenarios. Any thoughts on where I might go to ask if this would be useful to folks in those situations? For example, I can look up home care facilities, not sure if there's a better way.

3 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Does it alert you when the egg is done? I could see something like this in hotel breakfast bars next to the pancake tunnel if it had an egg storage and dispensing system and shell disposal so you didn't have to touch raw egg.

Yup, it alerts you when it's done. And it can leave it on "warm" so that it stays warm even if you can't get to it immediately. Thank you for the idea about hotel breakfast...I was having a bit of a hard time visualizing someone using this in a hotel because I wasn't sure if they'd be willing to pick up a raw egg (even with tongs) and drop it into the machine...but having egg storage and dispensing so that they just walk up to the machine and ask for a fried egg...that seems pretty in-line with the pancake tunnel you're mentioning (which I assume is something like this video below)

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

What do you mean by 'it preheats'? Are you referring to the eggs being from the fridge? Please be aware that refrigerating eggs is a peculiarly American habit.

Also, only being able to do 'sunny side up' is a big limitation. Not everyone wants their fried eggs that way.

Good question, and thanks for highlighting that it was confusing terminology! (haha another reminder that sometimes one can get so absorbed in what you're working on that you assume it makes sense to others!)... I meant that it pre-heats the pan to the right temperature before cracking the egg into the pan.

2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

With that shape of pan that's about all you could do. It really should have an egg pan in case somebody would want to flip their eggs.

With that shape pan, it can only do a sunny side up fried egg (and if you wanted it over easy/over medium, etc., you would have to manually flip it). Technically, it's not difficult to add a little holder and lid like the egg boilers do so that it can boil eggs....or a cradle for poached eggs... more "attachments" is a concern of mine, personally, though going back to the egg boiler example...people seem to use those for boiled eggs, poached eggs, even steamed "omelettes" (if you can call it that).

image.png.c8e27f808958408b63c03372378bc841.png

Edited April 2 by coolarj10 (log)

liuzhou · April 2

Those "rapid egg boilers" were popular here about 10 years ago. Probably got used once or twice. No more rapid or convenient than a pan. The number of reviews is no indicator of anything useful.

**TdeV** · April 2

@coolarj10, You might need an adjustment so folks who don't refrigerate their eggs, could adjust the cooker so they could get them sunnyside up. I'm sure that's true for more than @liuzhou and neighbours.

Also TropicalSenior, I fully condone that only sunnysideup eggs are the only proper ones! https://forums.egullet.org/p2447228 🤣

Tropicalsenior · April 2

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

Also TropicalSenior, I fully condone that only sunnysideup eggs are the only proper ones

As a long time breakfast line cook, I can tell you that the people that order sunny side up eggs are definitely in the minority. Personally, I could never eat eggs that way. I just don't want my breakfast staring back at me.

Edited April 2 by Tropicalsenior (log)

coolarj10 · April 2

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Those "rapid egg boilers" were popular here about 10 years ago. Probably got used once or twice. No more rapid or convenient than a pan. The number of reviews is no indicator of anything useful.

That's a good point, thank you. I did find it interesting that it had over 120k reviews and most were positive...must mean people are interested. But true, we don't know how frequently they use it.

8 hours ago, TdeV said:

@coolarj10, You might need an adjustment so folks who don't refrigerate their eggs, could adjust the cooker so they could get them sunnyside up. I'm sure that's true for more than @liuzhou and neighbours.

Also TropicalSenior, I fully condone that only sunnysideup eggs are the only proper ones! https://forums.egullet.org/p2447228 🤣

So glad you brought this up...living in the USA, I'm so used to refrigerated egg cook timings, but is sunny side up that different for a non refrigerated egg? I'll have to test it. I figured it'd just be a change in timing, but maybe temperature level as well. I'm pretty jealous that eggs don't have to be refrigerated elsewhere...for one, it would make it easy to leave an egg in the machine and wake up to a fried egg in the morning without refrigeration.

7 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

As a long time breakfast line cook, I can tell you that the people that order sunny side up eggs are definitely in the minority. Personally, I could never eat eggs that way. I just don't want my breakfast staring back at me.

ohh good to know! What style egg was most popular? And what kind of restaurant was it?

gfweb · April 2

positive reviews are often faked

IndyRob · April 3

I love robotics, and I love cooking. The egg cracking is top-notch. It looks like you have a winner in that little niche.

The cooking? Not so much. The first, one-egg example is not very well cooked. The two-egg test wasn't followed to completion.

But back to the cracking, check this out and consider trying to do this test (maybe after egg prices come down a bit)

Tropicalsenior · April 3

16 hours ago, coolarj10 said:

What style egg was most popular?

In restaurants the types of eggs are over easy, over medium, over hard, sunny side up and basted. And I would say that that is pretty much the order of the popularity with the majority being over easy. Your machine could also make basted eggs by simply adding a few drops of water and putting on a lid.

gfweb · April 3

You've automated the egg-cracking and cooking, but not the loading of the eggs or the cleaning. Is time actually saved? What happens when there is a bit of shell in the eggs?

As much as I respect the effort you put in...and I'm awed by it...I don't see a market for this thing.

Anchobrie · April 4

On 4/1/2025 at 8:39 PM, JeanneCake said:

maybe useful for someone with limited mobility (in a cast because of a broken wrist/arm, for example) or a home carer for an elderly person who could load it up with eggs and then they can have an egg if they are alone without worrying that they'll leave the range on. Maybe as a rental device, the way people rent medical equipment for a short duration.

I also think you are remarkably clever and you should continue to pursue this sort of thing.

Really close relative (my old man) is unable to fry an egg by itself. This kind of artifact would allow him to eat them again. With probably minor modifications, like an alarm when it is "done" and so on.

JeanneCake · April 4

I don't think of this as a wildly popular mainstream type of device; it's more along the lines of a specific, limited (?) demographic like those sites for people who have different shoe sizes, or modified clothing for disabilities. I needed to shop for clothing after a mastectomy, a very specific type of top to allow for keeping the drains in place, and being able to snap it closed/open. I only needed it for 3 months but it was a lifesaver and then I donated them. That's what I see this device doing.

liuzhou · April 4

The more I look at and think about this, the less useful I feel it is.

What does it really do that's different from a stove top and pan? It cracks the egg and drops it into the pan - nothing else that I can see.. I do have limited mobility. I would still have to get the egg from where I store them, drop it into its position, find my frying medium of choice and put that into the pan, then when the egg is ready get the egg out of the pan and onto the plate.

One egg. And not cooked to my preference.

On the stove top, I can simultaneously cook more than one egg (to my preference) with the only extra exertion required being the cracking of the eggs - not the most difficult part. Then I'd need to clean the pan just the same whether using this or the stovetop. The stovetop would be easier to clean, too.

I'm not saying there isn't a seed of an idea there, but it needs a lot more thought.

Edited April 4 by liuzhou (log)

coolarj10 · April 4

17 hours ago, Anchobrie said:

Really close relative (my old man) is unable to fry an egg by itself. This kind of artifact would allow him to eat them again. With probably minor modifications, like an alarm when it is "done" and so on.

Thank you for sharing! Would he be willing to take an egg out of the fridge and drop it into the machine, or would it need to have a hopper/magazine sort of thing that holds and refrigerates all the eggs?

16 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

I don't think of this as a wildly popular mainstream type of device; it's more along the lines of a specific, limited (?) demographic like those sites for people who have different shoe sizes, or modified clothing for disabilities. I needed to shop for clothing after a mastectomy, a very specific type of top to allow for keeping the drains in place, and being able to snap it closed/open. I only needed it for 3 months but it was a lifesaver and then I donated them. That's what I see this device doing.

Ah, I hadn't thought of it in that context, and that makes sense... My uncle had a procedure done and needed several different items but only for a few months. Where did you go to buy your clothing? For example, we have a medical supplies store, I wonder if it would be worth talking to them.

On 4/3/2025 at 7:13 AM, Tropicalsenior said:

In restaurants the types of eggs are over easy, over medium, over hard, sunny side up and basted. And I would say that that is pretty much the order of the popularity with the majority being over easy. Your machine could also make basted eggs by simply adding a few drops of water and putting on a lid.

Very helpful to know, thank you!

On 4/3/2025 at 7:54 AM, gfweb said:

You've automated the egg-cracking and cooking, but not the loading of the eggs or the cleaning. Is time actually saved? What happens when there is a bit of shell in the eggs?

As much as I respect the effort you put in...and I'm awed by it...I don't see a market for this thing.

All super valid points... an egg isn't really that hard to cook to begin with, so I guess my thoughts are...

(1) maybe it just doesn't make sense

(2) maybe it makes sense for someone who struggles with it for some reason

(3) maybe it's not about doing something faster, but rather having something be babysat for you while you can do other things

(4) or maybe, with automated egg loading and egg shell disposal, it may actually solve those problems you mentioned...

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I'm not saying there isn't a seed of an idea there, but it needs a lot more thought.

Thank you! The last thing I want to do is try to have an answer looking for a problem, lol...so if there's not an obvious need, I don't want to try to bulldoze it through. But if there's something here, even if just a seed, that could leave to something useful, I'm all for it...but you're right it seems it may need more thought.

chromedome · April 4

I don't have anything much to add that hasn't already been touched on, but (shrug) that's never stopped me before...

I'll add a +1 to the possibility of it being attractive to people who live with a chronic illness or other disability. That's an under-appreciated market (a great many of the kitchen gizmos you've seen on late-night infomercials began with that market, and then expanded into the mass consumer sphere). Also, there are a lot more people with disabilities than most of us realize, not to mention how many of us will be temporarily sidelined by illness or injury at some point in our lives.

The hotel breakfast-bar idea seems plausible to me as well, at least as a niche/novelty item. I doubt you'd place them at every Holiday Inn or Best Western, but as a very small company you night not need a large sales volume to do your 401(k) some good. Here in the Kitchen Consumer forum you'll see a very similar request for feedback (a precision cooker) by a European entrepreneur who has been successful in just such a modest fashion.

That said - and far be it from me to throw cold water on anyone's dream - it could be argued (for reasons too obvious to require comment) that you've chosen the Very Worst Possible Moment to be prototyping a new electronic device, having it manufactured, and bringing it to market.

ETA: Took the time to look up info on the prevalence of disabilities in the US, then forgot to include the link.

https://www.cdc.gov/disability-and-health/articles-documents/disability-impacts-all-of-us-infographic.html

Edited April 4 by chromedome (log)

coolarj10 · April 4

9 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I don't have anything much to add that hasn't already been touched on, but (shrug) that's never stopped me before...

I'll add a +1 to the possibility of it being attractive to people who live with a chronic illness or other disability. That's an under-appreciated market (a great many of the kitchen gizmos you've seen on late-night infomercials began with that market, and then expanded into the mass consumer sphere). Also, there are a lot more people with disabilities than most of us realize, not to mention how many of us will be temporarily sidelined by illness or injury at some point in our lives.

The hotel breakfast-bar idea seems plausible to me as well, at least as a niche/novelty item. I doubt you'd place them at every Holiday Inn or Best Western, but as a very small company you night not need a large sales volume to do your 401(k) some good. Here in the Kitchen Consumer forum you'll see a very similar request for feedback (a precision cooker) by a European entrepreneur who has been successful in just such a modest fashion.

That said - and far be it from me to throw cold water on anyone's dream - it could be argued (for reasons too obvious to require comment) that you've chosen the Very Worst Possible Moment to be prototyping a new electronic device, having it manufactured, and bringing it to market.

Haha thanks so much for your reply!

I also appreciate that you are giving me some additional avenues to look into before 86ing the idea completely.

For example, I am totally onboard with your idea that it may not need to have a mega large sales volume, but maybe just enough to at least start somewhere and then expand later. The vision was actually to wake up to a complete breakfast and then additional meals and automating the kitchen, not just a fried egg. It just sort of started here.

So, maybe I need to figure out how to talk to more folks who live with a chronic illness or other disability, like you said, as well as perhaps some hoteliers who have self-service waffle makers, etc.

There are definitely new challenges to doing hardware right now...so let's see how that goes!

Thank you again!

AlaMoi · April 4

"The vision was actually to wake up to a complete breakfast . . . "

one egg sunny side up is not a "complete" breakfast. just saying . . .

so,,,, whadda' about the rest of it?

next, from timer "Start" to 'egg all done' is how many minutes:seconds?

how does that time duration compare to people woken by an alarm, hit the toilet, wash up, brush their teeth, get on a robe and go wander into the kitchen?

..... and make a slice of toast . . .

given that it takes +/- 2 minutes to preheat a pan to fry an egg, and cracking an egg into the pan is 3-6 seconds, and ~3-4 minutes to cook the egg - any number and anyway you want . . . what does this device accomplish?

the disassembly/wash/clean up looks to take that much time or more , , , so, what is the net time saving for one/two eggs sunny side up?

JeanneCake · April 5

6 hours ago, coolarj10 said:

Ah, I hadn't thought of it in that context, and that makes sense... My uncle had a procedure done and needed several different items but only for a few months. Where did you go to buy your clothing? For example, we have a medical supplies store, I wonder if it would be worth talking to them.

It was JSAW Mastectomy Designs; I couldn't find them just now (I bought them in 2019) so perhaps they are out of business now. But there are other companies doing the same thing now. Possibly talk to an orthopedic doctor, or a plastic surgeon (I was lucky enough to have an amazing plastic surgeon and he also specialized in hand surgery so he did my carpal tunnel surgery after the BC) and get their input about how people use their hands/wrists after injury.

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