History

The Überbaster is the thesis project of Josh Berry at ITP. He wanted to select a project that had no counterpart, that he could take with him after school, and that he could share with others without spending an arm and a leg. He wanted to integrate his love of cooking with an ITP project but decided that any use of high technology would undermine the low tech practice of cooking.

ITP stands for Interactive Telecommucations Program. While the Überbaster has little to do with telecommunications, it has a lot to do with interactivity. You're going to like using this thing. We started a little community here too that we hope you'll join. You can contribute links, brief cooking tips, or anything you want. The system integrates Twitter and SMS, so you can participate however you like.

Here is a very early sketch of what I imagined the baster to be. The final design shed most of the in-oven parts in the interest of keeping the parts count light and allow for a modular product. The bulb-style pump became the injector, while the two tubes, Y connector, and then-imaginary one-way liquid valves remained.