Rotimatic: The robotic roti-maker is sold out for year 2015

In 2013, we had taken note of a new product that aimed to lighten the task of making perfect rotis. Singapore-based startup, Zimplistic had created a product called Rotimatic, a robotic machine to make rotis. The users just had to add flour and water, following which they needed to select an option about the kind of rotis they wanted - abd voila they would have the perfect roti on their plates in a matter of minutes! Zimplistic was founded by Rishi Israni and Pranoti Nagarkar. A video, demonstrating how the roti-maker works, went viral and saw close to 2.5 million hits. Now according to the company’s website, even the 2015 pre-order batches are all sold out. According to a post on Mashable, the company has managed to get pre-sales worth $4.5 million and “even the initial run of Rotimatics won’t arrive in consumers’ hands until early 2015.” The device is priced at a hefty $599 (that’s close to Rs 35,000) but it seems that hasn’t stopped people from pre-ordering. It is currently sold-out in the US and Singapore pre-order batch, although the company will launch a version for India as well. According to the FAQ page on the company’s website , the India price will be lower than the US price, which is good news. We wonder though how low it will be priced in India. The page notes, “The price of Rotimatic will vary by market and is dependent on factors such as after-sales partnerships, local taxes, logistics and the cost of doing business in each market. For example, the price in India will be lower than the price in the USA given economies of scale.” [caption id=“attachment_1610569” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rotimatic is already sold out for 2015.[/caption] The Mashable post also notes that “Rotimatic has already advanced to the manufacturing stage, and is working on perfecting its assembly line. It is also awaiting US certification (something all appliances in the country must get).” The Rotimatic is a compact robot with the following dimensions: 40 by 40 by 45 cm. It weighs 18kg and has a power consumption of 1.6kW – 1.8kW. At 18 kgs, it is fairly heavy device and will take a lot of space, especially if its a tiny kitchen in Mumbai. The cool thing is that users can set the preference of the roti size by diameter. They can also add chilis, turmeric, other dry flavour to the rotis as well. There’s a separate compartment to hold oil, water and the flour. The machine uses hot plates to heat up the rotis until they are puffed and ready. Mashable’s piece has a full hands-on with the device as well and gives a good idea of how it actually works. They noted in their piece, “The final product is (the roti), as advertised, a perfectly shaped and cooked roti that looks and tastes like it was made by expert hands.” Also cleaning of the device (always important when it comes to a cooking appliance) is simple they note. According to the piece, “the kneader comes out, and can be rinsed off or put in your dishwasher, as can the plate where Rotimatic rolls the dough balls.”