The smart grill of tomorrow

Giving you more time to focus on drinking and dominating cornhole at your next cookout, the Lynx SmartGrill is a voice-automated gas grill concept that allows you to control and customize its functions from afar. And if all goes according to plan, it should be ready for your backyard by the middle of next year.

While it may resemble your standard stainless steel gas-powered BBQ rig, there's a whole lot more going on inside. For one, its equipped to communicate via WiFi with both your smartphone and an online database, which determines the optimal grilling technique for whatever you're cooking (like a web-connected version of that awesomely intelligent indoor grill). Just announce to the machine what you intend to cook (chicken, steak, scallops, vegetables, etc.) and it will ignite itself and let you know — by way of text message or voice command — when the coals are hot enough, and onto which of its six zones to place your food.

From there, it will keep you posted on next steps in a similar fashion, giving a heads up when to flip or remove your grub to achieve varying levels of doneness, liberating you from the nervous hovering above the heat.

And no need to worry about it firing up unattended or staying lit well beyond dinner, either, because it's equipped with a set of safety features that cuts the gas if it doesn't receive a command for 30 minutes.