Chinese specialities such as Sichuan duck, crispy wonton and crab meat and sweetcorn soup, can now be prepared by a robot made by Fanxing Science and Technology Co.

The company, based in Shenzen, south China, have developed the people’s first cooking robot, bestowed with skills to prepare thousands of traditional dishes, says the state news agency Xinhua.

The robot, named AlCookingrobot, or AIC as it known for ease, “will help standardise Chinese fast food” said Cai Hegao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The robot knows how to “fry, bake, boil and steam, and can perform other special Chinese cooking actions”. Some of the different cuisines that AIC robot can cook are Sichuan, Shandong and Canton.

In a recent demonstration, the robot apparently cooked a dish of “beautifully-flavoured, attractive-looking” shrimp in five minutes, according to Xinhua.

Restaurants will be able to buy the robot in 2007, with a family-friendly version for the general public being devised for a later sale.

The company spent four years and more than 2 million yuan (around $250,000) to develop the robot, stated Liu Xinyu, executive director of the company.