One of the first electric food processors was the Starmix, introduced by German company Electrostar in 1946. Although the basic unit resembled a simple blender, numerous accessories were available, including attachments for slicing bread, milk centrifuges and ice cream bowls. In a time when electric motors were expensive, they also developed the piccolo, where the food processor's base unit could drive a vacuum cleaner. In the 1960s,
Albrecht von Goertz designed the Starmix MX3 food processor. In France, the concept of a machine to process food began when a
catering company salesman,
Pierre Verdon, observed the large amount of time his clients spent in the kitchen chopping, shredding and mixing. He produced a simple but effective solution, a bowl with a revolving blade in the base. In 1960, this evolved into Robot-Coupe, a company established to manufacture commercial "food processors" for the
catering industry. In the late 1960s, a commercial food processor driven by a powerful commercial induction motor was produced. Robot-Coupe's Magimix food processor arrived from France in the UK in 1974, beginning with the Model 1800. Then, a UK company
Kenwood Limited started their own first Kenwood Food Processor, 'processor de- luxe,' in 1979.
Marc Harrison's Cuisinart Re-design Disability research was an ongoing project because the first food processor created was not user friendly for all individuals. In 1978,
Marc Harrison was a professor at the
Rhode Island School of Design. He specialized in Industrial Design. Cuisinart, an American company, contacted and hired Harrison in 1978 to update the Food Processor. Harrison updated the product to focus on making the machine usable for those with limited abilities with fine motor skills and eyesight, which in turn made it easier for any user to operate. These updates included larger writing on the base of the product to benefit those who have vision impairments, and larger handles and buttons. ==Functions==