LAS VEGAS – September 19, 2026 -- WAN AICHEF ULTRA, an AI-powered cooking system, has been named a Professional Category Finalist in the 2026 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), presented by the Industrial Designers Society of America.
The appliance lets users load food, pick a program and walk away
Ultra is built around what the company calls a "Load and Go" experience: users place food inside, select a cooking goal, confirm the suggested program, and the system handles adjustments as cooking proceeds. For supported ingredients, an AI vision system can identify the food and recommend a program before the user confirms it.
"We began by asking which decisions people repeat every night and which of those the appliance could responsibly take on," said Stanley Huo, CEO of WAN AICHEF. "The change is not simply what the appliance can do, but what the user no longer has to do."
A 12-megapixel camera and thermal imaging track the food as it cooks
Ultra combines a 12-megapixel AI camera with Heimann infrared thermal imaging and on-device processing from an NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano to monitor conditions and adjust power and timing in real time. In testing of supported cooking tasks, the system achieved temperature-control precision of approximately ±3.2°F under specified conditions, though results varied by food, cookware and program. Safeguards include dry-burn protection, cookware detection, door-open auto-stop and a child lock.
The system is trained on retail products from Costco, Whole Foods and HelloFresh
WAN AICHEF has trained Ultra to recognize a growing range of foods and ready-to-cook products sold at Costco, Whole Foods Market, Safeway and other U.S. retailers, as well as meal kits from services such as HelloFresh. Users can place compatible cookware inside and follow on-screen recommendations without translating package instructions into manual settings. The company says it continues to expand supported foods and formats, and plans to incorporate feedback on texture and doneness to refine future recommendations for individual households.
Home users reported spending less time monitoring meals
A user in Florida said she did not have to constantly watch salmon and shrimp dishes to avoid overcooking them. In Atlanta, a mother said cooking a whole chicken with Ultra freed up time to spend with her family instead of checking on the food.
The IDEA finalist selection follows earlier recognition for Ultra from the Red Dot Award. WAN AICHEF ULTRA is available to explore through Indiegogo.