The UPV creates a new immersive restaurant concept that combines technology and gastronomy

Virtuchef has a facial recognition system that tracks the customer from the moment they arrive at the restaurant and guides them to the table they have reserved.. A totem located at the entrance of the establishment identifies the diner, welcomes you and select the content you will see on your multi-touch and interactive table.

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), in collaboration with the La Sucursal Group and the Valencian company Postigo Works and Services, have created Virtuchef, a new concept of an immersive restaurant in which food and technologies combine and offer a different gastronomic experience.

Virtuchef has a camera system that monitors (tracking) of the customer from the moment he arrives at the restaurant, and guides him to the table he has reserved. In turn, a totem located at the entrance of the establishment is capable of recognizing the diner, welcome you and select the content you will see on your multi-touch and interactive table.

“Basically, It is a system that, using computer vision techniques, allows you to locate each of the people who are in an area of ​​the establishment. This system is integrated with the welcome totem upon arrival at the restaurant”, explains Mariano Alcañiz, director of the I3B-UPV Institute.

Just sit down, The customer can see the menu and another series of audiovisual and recreational content, adapted to your profile, to make the wait until the arrival of the dishes more pleasant.

The personal tracking system analyzes both diners and local workers to obtain heat maps, definition of profiles of their trajectories in the local, etc. So, The facial recognition system is capable of uniquely identifying a person who has previously given their consent. With it, The aim is to provide a personalized offer in terms of the dishes you will taste and the audiovisual and recreational elements that are shown..

Virtuchef also has a household utensil recognition system, located on the multi-touch table.

The UPV researcher explains how the idea was “that games can be played between the content displayed on the table and these elements.”. Mainly, at the time of serving each of the dishes that make up the menu that the diner will taste”.

All of this is complemented with an augmented reality application that allows the user to interact with the rest of the content.. from her, It is possible to view the dishes and drinks on the menu in 3D on the table and share the image on social networks, as well as the characteristics of the dishes or the data of the premises.

For Javier Andrés, gastronomic director of Grupo La Sucursal and National Gastronomy Award, The development of this project is a “clear example of the importance of research in the sector. It is our second R&D&I project after the Gastrovac patent, that we developed together with researchers from the Department of Food Technologies”.

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