With today's technology, we have the ability to 3D print in plastics, metals, ceramics, and even Nutella. Each and every day it seems as though we are introduced to a new type of material that is able to either be extruded from a 3D printer or printed via another type of laser or light processing technology. It was only a matter of time before someone would come up with the clever idea of trying to 3D print objects out of ice cream.
Three students at MIT (Kyle Hounsell, Kristine Bunker, and David Donghyun Kim), as part of a project for Professor John Hart's graduate class on additive manufacturing, in fact did come up with this tasty idea. Hart's class focuses on the fundamentals of additive processing of polymers, metals, and ceramics, as well as machine designs and control strategies, 3D geometry representations and metrology, material properties and digital assembly. Students broke off into groups to create new 3D printing technologies. Kyle, Kristine, and David decided to try and create a machine that could 3D print soft serve ice cream.
Hey, look. A page that has 8 images that are actually useful. Okay, now I'm going to grab something sweet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 19 2014, @02:01PM
How could this be applied to real world applications though?
(Score: 2) by lubricus on Saturday July 19 2014, @02:40PM
... that's the obvious question, but the Makerbot did start out as a cupcake frosting printer.
But of course the field of 3d printing wasn't as crowded then as it is now.
... sorry about the typos
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 19 2014, @11:00PM
Upon reading your question, my first thought was *flux* for soldering surface-mount electronics.
(It doesn't need to be anywhere near this cold, though it does have a longer shelf life if you keep it cool.)
Flux is also typically applied with a stencil, so I don't know that you'd gain much with a printer that deposits it.
So: Some kind of liquidy/pasty stuff that you want to stay in place until the non-cold part of that process is begun.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday July 20 2014, @07:31PM
Squirt refrigerated pink slime and various food colorings into a hot frying pan to make McBurgerPatties slightly cheaper.
I can imagine all kinds of interesting issues with the digital pattern of the drawn meat. Drawn on grill marks, digitally optimized extrusion pattern to closely resemble ground beef, etc.
The assumption is "we're good, we're interested in tech, therefore they will use our tech for good not evil." LOL!
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday July 19 2014, @04:40PM
I don't know about anyone else but we've had ice cream printers for decades. True, a human operator is required to move the base (cone) around to achieve the conventional "swirl" construction, but the principle's the same.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday July 20 2014, @01:17AM
Yes... I have seen some of their artistry.
This was several years ago, but I saw a yoghurt cone being served to another customer at a mall vendor. It looked like a good-sized lump of yoghurt in a waffle cone. It wasn't cheap, but it I went for it thinking at least I was going to get a tasty snack and not be hungry for another one.
Imagine my reaction when I found out the server had a machine that made hollow servings! It was not a lump of yoghurt at all - it was just thick enough to maintain structural integrity so it would not collapse upon itself until the money changed hands. I felt like such a chump. Never went back. Matter of fact I haven't bought yoghurt from anybody since that incident.
Its the same game played with those chocolate Easter bunnies. They look good in the box, but when you bite into one of them, surprise! Not even marshmallow ( which I figure was some sort of marketing plan for selling air at candy prices ).
I can just see the ice cream vendor at the malls once this technology makes it to the retail sector. The server will hoist the item high into the air for everyone to see, get the money, deliver the product, then let the customer discover his serving was a printed mirage. A lot of people like this and call it "presentation". However I think of it as "deception".
Please do not use this technology as a way to deceive the customer by providing the illusion of a full cup to the customer - even though I know I am going up against a lot of business make-money-now consultants who one can pay to tell you the exact opposite. I would remind you I post as a potential customer, not one who makes his money consulting on how to deceive a customer for a quick profit.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]