Developed by former NASA engineer Mark Rober, the Heat Map Microwave is a new twist on a kitchen appliance that’s gone relatively unchanged for the last twenty years.

Utilizing an infrared camera built into the top of the microwave’s cook chamber, a LCD screen mounted on the front of the microwave displays the temperature of the food cooking inside the appliance.

Viewed in real-time on the LCD or within a smartphone application, the person cooking food within the microwave can see when their food is completely cooked. This can be particularly helpful if you are constantly burning food in a high wattage microwave or under-cooking in a low wattage microwave.

Interestingly, you can increase cooking time with the smartphone application, an ideal feature for anyone in a busy household. The microwave can also be programmed to stop cooking when a specific heat threshold is met, something of a fail-safe feature. Finally, the LCD screen can be used for browsing the Web to watch cooking videos on YouTube or read recipes.

Rober isn’t pursuing a crowd-funded Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign at this time. Instead, he has investors ready to start manufacturing his prototype, assuming there’s enough interest in the product. You can add your signature to the digital petition here. As of today, approximately 35,000 people have signed. No pricing data or availability is known at this time.

Shut Up and Take My Money: Heat Map Microwave