Oops, my bad. The unit(s) that I was talking about report UV, not IR. Would they detect anything on a stove? 
Didn't even know that existed... 
Looks like I'd need a very detailed step-by-step to work that out.
Flame sensor is not a bad idea. Its IR sensitive so it has to be placed in a location with direct view of the flame as well as in a place where it won't be accidentilly covered by something (like a cooking towel). I am hesitant to put it on the stove directly since i could have a boilover and i worry about putting electronics this close to heat or liquids.
The idea of a heat sensor near the exhaust isn't bad. If a pot, even when simmering, goes dry the heat conducts through the pot to the metal in the pot and that should be detectable. My fear here is that when doing roiling boils, lets say for pasta's there is a high amount of steam evaporating and i worry it would hurt the sensor.
We did a demo of flame detection with Tensor Flow for our robotics class since we were on the topic of image detection. You will be amazed how much data can be extracted from a simple cell phone video feed. But putting this into device hander would be a nightmare.
You may want to look how furnaces use that simple "pin" that is on their burners for flame detection that is a very simple circuit. You may be able to mount them near the burners and connect them to a small circuit that measures the output.
How Does a Furnace Flame Sensor Work? | Hunker
52W29 - Lennox 52W29 - Flame Sensor Kit LB-74940A (supplyhouse.com)
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Why would it have to "see" the flame? Anything on the burner will also give off elevated IR when it heats up.
Just use your standard flame sensor that comes with any gas furnace.
Tie the electrical signal into an arduino board and use this app: [Release] HubDuino v1.1.7 - Hubitat to Arduino / ESP8266 / ESP32 / ThingShield Integration (ST_Anything) - Code Share - Hubitat
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No that I'm sure that my wife would approve, even for safety purposes, six of these plus wires on the cooktop, but could I wire all six (or say I start with three) to one arduino board, or is it one board per sensor?
Another stopper is where I can run the wires and hide the arduino boards.
What I really need is a wireless solution.
I tried the temp sensor in the lower part of the hood w/a pot on at a very low heat, and there was no resulting temp change in the hood sensor compared to another sensor (same model) sitting nearby. So I don't think that's going to be sensitive enough. In fact (more airmovement above?) the hood sensor registered lower than the one on the counter.
Lol, you don't wire them on top of the cook top. You wire them underneath where the existing flame sensors are (if you have an electronic cook top). These come in several shapes and sizes. Find ones that would work with your particular stove. The arduino boards also come in all shapes and sizes and many are wifi. They can be powered or run off batteries. Run the wires from underneath the cook top to one arduino wifi board placed in an inconspicuous place and your done.
Probably wouldn't try a project like this if your not comfortable working on gas appliances. There really isn't much to adding a flame sensor, just don't mess with any existing safeties the cook top may have. I would keep the two systems completely separate.
On a gas cook top the knobs that control the flame do this by turning a valve. It is exceptionally rare for the cooktop to stay on if the knob (valve) has been shut-off. The cook top being on when it is not suppose to be on is almost always cause someone forgot to shut it off, not cause the knob/valve failed. As such, instead of a flame sensor, I would also check if I could modify my cook top to sense the off position of the knob (through an arduino board) and get the info like that.
On a side note, my Christmas holiday project is to use one ten dollar wifi arduino board to integrate: my water meter, my interconnect on my smoke detectors, and open/close sensors on six basement windows. I was hoping connecting all these devices would cost less than 5 dollars, but I am in Canada so it will cost me 10 dollars.
Thanks.
I have a gas cooktop, so in that case? And why would an electronic cooktop have a flame sensor - to react to fires? Or am I confused (again). 
They may or may not depending on the manufacturer. Typically when you turn on the knob from off to on the burner lights. Gas doesn't light by itself, it needs something to ignite it. This is usually accomplished by a spark that is produced when the knob is turned to the on position. If this spark fails, (and the device that produces this spark can fail), then you have the gas valve open with gas escaping but no flame. Usually considered a bad situation, so some stoves will check for a flame and if there is no flame shut off the gas. This safety is required in a furnace and many other gas appliances. Cook tops are a different story, some have it some don't.
Yeah, mine does not have that, unfortunately. The spark module will click ad infinitum, but the gas doesn't turn off if the burner doesn't light.
I think I'm just going to need to get a butler.
Wondering if there are gas flow detectors - if I got one added into our line I could maybe find a way to link that into HE.
Even if your stove had it, I wouldn't use them. I would leave the safety devices that came with the stove alone. I would just add my own automation stuff and keep the two systems separate.
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Yep, called a gas meter.
No simple way to do this...bummer.
If you don't want to touch your cooktop and you just want to go with an infrared sensor above your cooktop that is tied into hubitat. Do this:
If it was my project, I would figure out how to do it inside my cook top, simply cause I don't like visible sensors. Every single light switch in my home is tied into hubitat along with many other devices and nobody notices when they come over, the automations just happen. I can't stand the way most sensors look.
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my electric stove with glass cook top .. there are two options i think would work.. there is a light that comes one with hot suface warning.. i could wire up a dry relay to that and warn if on too long i suppose. or the entire cook surface conducts when even one burner is not.. i am thinking a temp sensor in the back corder on the surface where there is no direct burner contact would still work
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I used to have a webcam pointed at my stovetop because I once was at work and couldn't remember if I had turned off the stove after making breakfast before I left for the office.
I had to run home at lunch to check (13 mile drive).
I had turned it off.
This wasn't the only time I couldn't recall turning it off.
Getting old sucks.
I now have a smart range, oddly, I can turn off the ovens, but I can't turn off the burner. But at least I can see if it's on. Plus, it's an induction cooktop and will automatically turn itself off if no pan is on it, or after a period of time inactive.
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I think the arduino IR flame sensor should be good enough, a pot should radiate IR if the heat is on. I was thinking that they measured flame via UV which requires to see the flame, but IR just needs heat to be present.
I doubt i'd like to open up my cooktop and muck around inside it. Its italian and prone to break, it would be the end of automation if the ministry of homeland affairs determined i broke the stove.
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The info at that link probably makes sense to you. Combination of Greek and Klingon to me. 
For instance, the show the temp sensor:
Then they show this
And I go "huh?" Where did that white board w/all the dots come from? What is that green thingy...assuming it's the sensor. Where do I get the wires... 
