School of Science and Technology 科技學院
Computing Programmes 電腦學系

Grab And Cook

Man Chong LI, Chun Kit MAK, Cheuk Fung CHU, Cheuk Him YU

  
ProgrammeBachelor of Arts with Honours in Computing and Interactive Entertainment
SupervisorDr. Henry Man Fai Leung and Dr. William Lai
AreasAugmented Reality Applications
Year of Completion2020

Objectives

The aim of the project has two main parts which provide a safe environment for the user to cook and cumulative experience and promote Hong Kong local recipes. The target of the project is young adults. The players could cook Hong Kong local recipes and acquire the knowledge about the local food from the Grab and Cook. Moreover, the VR game is a training game that familiarizes players with the cooking process and time and the ingredients they need. It provides cooking experience to people who are beginners of cooking or do not know how to cook.

There are several objectives to achieve our aims. First of all, we need

  • To build up the realistic 3D models of ingredients, cooking tools and background of a kitchen.
  • To set up the scene of the kitchen in unreal engine 4 for the player familiar with the surroundings of the kitchen.
  • To set up the scene of the kitchen in unreal engine 4 for the player familiar with the surroundings of the kitchen.
  • To promote Hong Kong's local food, we also would design some game level about the local recipe such as Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Egg Yolk (咸蛋蒸肉餅) and Aubergine with Minced Pork (魚香茄子).

Video Demonstration

Techniques and Technologies

Unreal Engine 4

A game engine for the development of the game. In this project, we developed a VR PC game by Unreal Engine 4.

Nvidia Flex

A third-party content in Unreal Engine 4 that is used to simulate soft body, cloth, and fluid. It provided build-in coding for developers.

Modeling application – Maya

For the model design, this project is a VR game that needs lots of 3D models. Maya is an application for us to build the models and manage them.

UV map editor

A tool in Maya. By using the UV editor, it helps to cut the UV map of the models in the correct position.

Texture painting application – Substance Painter

An application for us to paint the texture. With using the different tools in Substance Painter, it can help to paint texture conveniently. For example, the meat texture.

System Design and Implementation

The design of the stage is an old-style home kitchen. It is a stage where the player can play different recipes or modes.

Figure 1: Game Stage

Figure 2: Kitchen

In Grab and Cook, there are three UI menus including the main menu, recipe menu, and mode menu. The player was using the (blue) line to control the menu with a long distance by a VR controller including pressing, selecting, and hovering function.

Figure 3: Main Menu – The player could exit and start the game or edit the setting of the game and watch our information.

Figure 4: Recipe Menu – The player could select the recipe in this menu.

Figure 5: Mode Menu – The player could select the mode of the game.

Figure 6: The bread actor attached to the player’s left hand by grabbing on the bread actor.

Figure 7: A loft of a bread actor sliced by a knife actor and spawned a slice of bread actor.

Figure 8: The player breaking the egg actor and the egg fluid is falling on the frying pan.

Figure 9: The player pouring oil at the frying pan.

Figure 10: The player gets cabbage pieces by using the grater box.

Figure 11: The player put the bread actor on the respond actor.

Evaluation

In this project, we had invited 20 teenagers to play the demo of Grab and Cook. Then, we questionnaire them for the feedback about Grab and Cook and game testing with different devices' requirements.

According to the results collected from the questionnaires, most of the interviewees are very satisfied with Grab and Cook, and they could accumulate cooking experience and enhance their own cooking intention from playing Grab and Cook.

Table: Game Testing by three different computers

About the game testing, we found that all computers could launch Grab and Cook with different device requirements. However, some computers will not provide a complete gaming experience with a low device requirement such as a long loading time, frame per second limit, and high CPU utilization.

Conclusion and Future Development

Grab and Cook is a VR simulation cooking game which promotes the Hong Kong local recipe and provides a safe environment for the user to cook and cumulative experience. The player could select a different Hong Kong local recipes and gameplay's mode in the game. After that, the player could cook and complete the recipe step by step who will be guided and taught by the game. For the project, we developed the VR game with different softwares such as Photoshop, Substance Painter, Maya, and as well as Unreal Engine 4.

In the future, we will design the next recipe which is steamed pork patty and have been building up a modeling of pork belly and pork patty. About the function requirements, we estimate the function of steamed pork patty including slice, smash, stir, prepare, and add ingredients. It is because most of the functions and models have been built at the club sandwich level. Therefore, the developing time of steamed pork patty will be shorter than club sandwich.

Jonathan Chiu
Marketing Director
3DP Technology Limited

Jonathan handles all external affairs include business development, patents write up and public relations. He is frequently interviewed by media and is considered a pioneer in 3D printing products.

Krutz Cheuk
Biomedical Engineer
Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital

After graduating from OUHK, Krutz obtained an M.Sc. in Engineering Management from CityU. He is now completing his second master degree, M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, at CUHK. Krutz has a wide range of working experience. He has been with Siemens, VTech, and PCCW.

Hugo Leung
Software and Hardware Engineer
Innovation Team Company Limited

Hugo Leung Wai-yin, who graduated from his four-year programme in 2015, won the Best Paper Award for his ‘intelligent pill-dispenser’ design at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering’s International Conference on Consumer Electronics – China 2015.

The pill-dispenser alerts patients via sound and LED flashes to pre-set dosage and time intervals. Unlike units currently on the market, Hugo’s design connects to any mobile phone globally. In explaining how it works, he said: ‘There are three layers in the portable pillbox. The lowest level is a controller with various devices which can be connected to mobile phones in remote locations. Patients are alerted by a sound alarm and flashes. Should they fail to follow their prescribed regime, data can be sent via SMS to relatives and friends for follow up.’ The pill-dispenser has four medicine slots, plus a back-up with a LED alert, topped by a 500ml water bottle. It took Hugo three months of research and coding to complete his design, but he feels it was worth all his time and effort.

Hugo’s public examination results were disappointing and he was at a loss about his future before enrolling at the OUHK, which he now realizes was a major turning point in his life. He is grateful for the OUHK’s learning environment, its industry links and the positive guidance and encouragement from his teachers. The University is now exploring the commercial potential of his design with a pharmaceutical company. He hopes that this will benefit the elderly and chronically ill, as well as the society at large.

Soon after completing his studies, Hugo joined an automation technology company as an assistant engineer. He is responsible for the design and development of automation devices. The target is to minimize human labor and increase the quality of products. He is developing products which are used in various sections, including healthcare, manufacturing and consumer electronics.

Course Code Title Credits
  COMP S321F Advanced Database and Data Warehousing 5
  COMP S333F Advanced Programming and AI Algorithms 5
  COMP S351F Software Project Management 5
  COMP S362F Concurrent and Network Programming 5
  COMP S363F Distributed Systems and Parallel Computing 5
  COMP S382F Data Mining and Analytics 5
  COMP S390F Creative Programming for Games 5
  COMP S492F Machine Learning 5
  ELEC S305F Computer Networking 5
  ELEC S348F IOT Security 5
  ELEC S371F Digital Forensics 5
  ELEC S431F Blockchain Technologies 5
  ELEC S425F Computer and Network Security 5
 Course CodeTitleCredits
 ELEC S201FBasic Electronics5
 IT S290FHuman Computer Interaction & User Experience Design5
 STAT S251FStatistical Data Analysis5
 Course CodeTitleCredits
 COMPS333FAdvanced Programming and AI Algorithms5
 COMPS362FConcurrent and Network Programming5
 COMPS363FDistributed Systems and Parallel Computing5
 COMPS380FWeb Applications: Design and Development5
 COMPS381FServer-side Technologies and Cloud Computing5
 COMPS382FData Mining and Analytics5
 COMPS390FCreative Programming for Games5
 COMPS413FApplication Design and Development for Mobile Devices5
 COMPS492FMachine Learning5
 ELECS305FComputer Networking5
 ELECS363FAdvanced Computer Design5
 ELECS425FComputer and Network Security5