MasterChef Tim Anderson designs ultimate kitchen gadget

The robochef will have access to a digital library of over 2000 dishes. Photo / AFP

MasterChef winner’s style is the model for mechanical cooking wonder.

Most MasterChef winners open their own restaurants, set up catering companies or write cookbooks.

But 2011 BBC MasterChef winner Tim Anderson has spent the past two years helping to devise the ultimate kitchen gadget - a pair of robotic arms which can whip up any meal with the skill and flair of a professional chef.

Although it is currently just a prototype which uses the stove top, developers Moley Robotics are planning commercial versions which will link up to the fridge, oven and even the dishwasher, so it can clean up afterwards.

To create the device Anderson was filmed in 3D stirring liquids, chopping vegetables and even controlling the temperature of the stove top.

His actions were then translated into digital movement using algorithms created with the help of Stanford University.

The robot not only cooks like Anderson, but it signs off its work with an "okay" gesture, just like the chef. It can even make a crab bisque.

"To be honest, I didn't think this was possible," said Anderson, who has worked at Le Gavroche and the Fat Duck and owns his own pop-up restaurant, Nanban, in London.

"I chose crab bisque as a dish because it's a real challenge for a human chef to make well, never mind a machine.

"Having seen - and tasted - the results for myself, I am stunned. This is the beginning of something really significant, a whole new opportunity for producing good food and for people to explore the world's cuisines. It's very exciting."

The prototype has been 18 years in development and is on show at the world's biggest robotics show, Hanover Messe.

Moley Robotics, which has its headquarters in Britain, is now working to scale the technology ready for mass production and installation in regular-sized kitchens and wants to create an iTunes-style recipe book where dishes can be downloaded for the robot hands to cook.

The company is working with designers, homebuilders, kitchen installers and food suppliers to promote the system.

The mass-market product will be supported by a digital library of over 2000 dishes when it is launched in 2017 and the hope is that celebrity chefs will embrace 3D cooking downloads.

Home chefs will also be able to upload their favourite recipes too.

Moley Robotics was founded by London computer scientist, robotics and healthcare innovator Mark Oleynik.