My ultimate appliance a robot sandwich maker

Jon Bentley gets a few ideas after witnessing factory robots make just as well, if not better, than humans can sandwiches

- Jon Bentley

Forget air fryers, multi cookers and ice cream machines, the kitchen gadget I desire above all else is a fully automated sandwich maker. Not something that merely melts cheese and toasts bread but a super dextrous appliance that slices the bread, butters it, prepares the filling from raw ingredients, and delivers the sandwich of your life. It would be a spectacular piece of robotic theatre enlivening the home.

It could also transform the economy by boosting productivity. Britain munches its way through 4 billion sandwiches from retailers every year, an industry worth over 8 billion pounds, employing around 300,000 people. The firms involved find it very hard to recruit enough staff in today's tight labour market. Labour accounts for up to 40% of the price of a typical meal deal sandwich. If only the whole process could be mechanised.