In the fictional TV series Star Trek a replicator is used to create the food of your choice. This Science Fiction device could be closer to reality following a project by a team from the Computational Synthesis Lab at Cornell University.
http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/node/194
Its based on the Fab@Home 3D Printer platform, using hydrocolloids (xanthium gums and gelatin) and flavour additives as the printing materials which are loaded into syringes and placed on the printer head.
Read an interesting article on the 3D Food Printer by Designboom at
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/12675/3d-food-printer.html
and see it in action at
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/01/21/t_tt_3d_food_printer.cnnmoney/
There’s a technical paper Hydrocolloid Printing: A Novel Platform for Customized Food Production at
http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/SFF09_Cohen1_0.pdf
Other Links
Fab@Home is an open-source project that provides the designs and tools necessary to build your own 3D printer. The Fab@Home website is at
http://fabathome.org/
Fab@Home is another project for making and using 3D printers, or rapid prototyping machines, and provides all the information necessary to build or buy your own machine that you can use to print 3-dimensional objects.
http://fabathome.org
Total estimated cost for all materials required for the whole build is around $2300.00
It’s that time of year when we start to read a lot about "the best of 2007" and "things to watch for 2008".
One of my own favourites, which I noticed during 2007, is the 3D printer from Desktop Factory.
http://www.desktopfactory.com/
This is a printer which "prints" 3D models (to a maximum size of 5x5x5 inches), from a composite plastic powder at an estimated cost of about $1 per cubic inch.
What attracted my attention to this device was the price – at $4995 its a fraction of the cost of typical industrial machines and brings it (almost) within reach of the home (hobbyist) user.
Currently the web-site is offering the opportunity to "reserve" one of these printers – so it is not clear when they will actually be shipping the product, but if they can meet this price band its surely a winner – now I’m just waiting for the $500 3D printer …
Recent Comments