Regardless of how you feel about eating 3D printed food, and no matter how much everyone wants the r—-ator from Star Trek, PankcakeBot is showing that there is serious interest in making and eating 3D printed food.
PancakeBot’s Kickstarter campaign has 29 days left to go, and is already $37,778 past it’s $50,000 goal, which is great news for 3D printing food evangelists, and those looking to give it a shot at home or in their restaurants. I do know that writing this article is making me want pancakes.
Miguel Valenzuela had what most people would consider to be a pipe dream, which was to make a “Pancake Machine” out of LEGOs for his two young daughters. Apparently, while he was reading Make magazine one day, his oldest daughter Lily asked him what he was reading. He said to her, “I am reading about a guy that made a pancake stamping machine out of LEGO.” This meant a lot more to Lily, who immediately turned to her little sister, Maia, saying, “Papa’s going to build a Pancake Machine out of LEGO!” Well, Miguel couldn’t let them down, so PancakeBot was born.
The PancakeBot generated interest wherever Miguel brought it for display, including a World Maker Faire in New York. In 2014, Miguel further iterated his designs and created an acrylic version that was shown at both the San Mateo Maker Faire and the White House Maker Faire.
Now, it’s a winner on Kickstarter, and Miguel couldn’t be more excited and humbled by the response.
According to Miguel, “PancakeBot is a whimsical project inspired by my daughter Lily and her Sister Maia. To see it go from LEGO to a full blown successful Kickstarter Project is really humbling. I hope that people don`t look at this as just an appliance but as a product that will inspire future generations to explore technology, food, science and engineering. I hope it also breaks down the barrier of bringing digital food into the kitchen and to people around the world and we are working to make it as open as possible. It`s really important to note that this is a family project and I could’t have done it without my wonderful wife Runi and the support of some many friends and family.”
So, what exactly comes with a PancakeBot? Well, along with a “quality non-stick griddle”, the collapsible pancake printer, measuring 16.0″ x 8.3″ (430mm x 210mm) features the following:
- Pre-loaded pancake designs
- SD card slot for custom designs
- Simple user interface to control printing and batter flow
- A pause/resume feature
- Mac and Windows compatible software
- Access to video tutorials and downloadable files ready for printing
I’m now going to make pancakes for dinner. Head over to the Kickstarter page for more info!
