Chefs cook many things in an oven because the temperature can be controlled that way - some of those things would be better cooked in a frying pan or a pot on top of the cooker but are not, because the temperature control is not there. By having spot IR thermometers fitted above the stove looking down at each ring, in conjunction with a PID controller built in to the cooker, the temperature of each pot can be controlled precisely, allowing chefs more control when cooking some dishes because they have direct access to them while cooking and can more easily make adjustments and tweaks.

(Due credit: this suggestion is a superset of the linked suggestion below which uses a camera to keep a pot at just below boiling point)
-- gtoal, Jun 21 2024

Camera idea referenced above smartstovetop
Camera to keep pot just below boiling [gtoal, Jun 21 2024]

Or just use one of these lol https://www.amazon....meter/dp/B0734RJYSG
[21 Quest, Jun 25 2024]

Only vaguely related idea ... rare_20steak
[normzone, Jun 25 2024]

Good catch on the prior art, [a1] which was pretty much exactly my idea - although it's strange their paper restricted the idea to induction cookers - I see no reason it couldn't be made to work with regular electric rings or even gas. (Kudos for finding that paper, I would never have contemplated looking for a paper on stove design at the NIH!)
-- gtoal, Jun 24 2024


Add a fail-safe switch that turns off the stove when it notices Gramps* put the kettle on to boil then got distracted finding that important thing in the shop that'll just take a minute and hour and a half ago.

*Grandkids are too short/young to operate heavy machinery like a stove and, anyway, are probably in the shop being regaled with 'Back In The Day" streams of consciousness.
-- Sgt Teacup, Jun 25 2024



random, halfbakery