Imagine a machine where you press a few buttons and your dream dessert pops out the other end. It sounds fantastical now, like something from Star Trek or a Jules Verne novel, but someday it may be our reality thanks to some scientists who have altered a 3D printer that prints layers of chocolate instead of ink or plastic.
3D printing using plastic or metal is currently being used in the fashion and design industry to speed up production after only being innovated as a new technology recently. This seems like a natural step that would follow. Currently in its prototype phase it is gathering momentum and acclaim among various retailers.
Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao told BBC News that chocolate printing, just like any other 3D printing technique, starts with a flat cross-section image – similar to that produced by ordinary printers turning out images. “And then you do a 3D shape – layer by layer, printing chocolate instead of ink, like if you were layering 2D paper to form a 3D shape,” he said. Once a layer is completed, it solidifies, and the machine moves on to the next layer.
Dr Richard Hague from Loughborough University said that the Exeter creation is a step towards manufacturing a device able to print flawless 3D objects that taste good.
There have been other attempts to develop so-called “food printers” – in 2010, researchers from Cornell University in the US used liquefied foods as inks in a specially designed machine.
Once the prototype becomes a finished product, it may find a role in the restaurant and food preparation industry.
And some companies are already expressing interest.
“Obviously, it’s chocolate, so it is hugely appealing,” said Joanna Grant from an online gift retailer findmeagift.co.uk. But what is even more appealing, she added, is that customers will be able to design any object on a computer before hitting the print button. “We could do things like 3D faces, for instance – the possibilities are enormous on a commercial aspect.”
Besides producing 3D chocolate, Dr Hao’s team wants to go a step further – and take their printer into cyberspace. Hao said the next step would be creating a chocolate-oriented website. “Now we have an opportunity to combine chocolate with digital technology, including the design, digital manufacturing and social networking. Chocolate has a lot of social purpose, so our intention is to develop a community and share the designs, ideas and experience about it.”
Source: BBC News
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