4 ms·

Introducing Cornucopia, the food printer

46 points by DanielRibeiro 13y ago

sdoering 13y ago
Sorry, call me old fashioned (and I love my Star Trek Replicator), but I really like my food unprocessed, before cooking. I really love to mix ingredients as building blocks of a great, nourishing meal. Not industrially manufactured so called food.
- BadassFractal 13y ago
  Let me add in Lexx, the sci-fi show, and their food printer thingy as well.
  - chiph 13y ago
    Technically, that was bug juice.
  - themstheones 13y ago
    On Futurama they had a robot that prepared cocktails. It's the same basic premise.
- thenomad 13y ago
  Counterpoint - as a molecular gastronomy enthusiast, I'm very excited about this and similar developments. I've already seen the huge opportunities that comparatively simple techniques like sous-vide cooking have afforded me, and I've eaten at restaurants like the Fat Duck which turned a lot of my concepts about food on their head. A food printer sounds like a fascinating way to develop new flavour combinations, textures, presentations - I can't wait.
devindotcom 13y ago
This is just a concept. However, the "burrito bot" exists: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/burritobot-precision-tortilla-filling-machine-835952 http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/burritobot-precision-torti... And its inventor says that the results are kind of nasty. There's a lot more to food than just nutritive compounds.
hassaanm 13y ago
The article is from 2010. Is there any sort of follow up?
- regal 13y ago
  This one appears to have lived and died as a prototype. Any mention of it after this article has only referenced what original information and images are available on the prototyper's 2010 site. [1] Fab@Home seems to be closer to digitally printing food, though it doesn't seem like any time soon: "Lipton thinks that fabricating a dish of steak and potatoes from scratch is still 15 to 20 years or more in the future." [2] [1] http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia/ http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia/ [2] http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2013/03/19/3d-printing-takes-final-frontier-food/ http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2013/03/19/3d-printing-ta...
Matti 13y ago
One of the concepts: "Digital Chocolatier Prototype The Digital Chocolatier is a prototype for a machine that allows users to quickly design, assemble and taste different chocolate candies. This machine is composed of three primary elements: a carousel of ingredients, a thermoelectric deposition cup and a user interface. Through a graphical user interface, users can select and combine the ingredients housed in the different carousel containers to create customized candies. The carousel rotates to extrude these ingredients into the thermoelectric cup that rapidly cools and hardens the chocolate, making it ready for consumption. The interface also makes it possible to save and rate favorite recipes for later use." -- http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia I can actually see how that could work.
goyalpulkit 13y ago
Reminds me of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" [1] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/
altrego99 13y ago
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
- willholloway 13y ago
  “Coffee, Jamaican blend, double-strong, double-sweet.”
ddeck 13y ago
NASA just funded a Texas company to investigate feasibility of 3D printing food for space missions: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_food.html http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_f...
aaron695 13y ago
TL;DR; It's just an idea. Which any good entrepreneur knows is as valuable as leaves on a tree. Implementation is whats important.

46 points by DanielRibeiro 13y ago

Sorry, call me old fashioned (and I love my Star Trek Replicator), but I really like my food unprocessed, before cooking. I really love to mix ingredients as building blocks of a great, nourishing meal. Not industrially manufactured so called food.

BadassFractal 13y ago
Let me add in Lexx, the sci-fi show, and their food printer thingy as well.
- chiph 13y ago
  Technically, that was bug juice.
- themstheones 13y ago
  On Futurama they had a robot that prepared cocktails. It's the same basic premise.
thenomad 13y ago
Counterpoint - as a molecular gastronomy enthusiast, I'm very excited about this and similar developments. I've already seen the huge opportunities that comparatively simple techniques like sous-vide cooking have afforded me, and I've eaten at restaurants like the Fat Duck which turned a lot of my concepts about food on their head. A food printer sounds like a fascinating way to develop new flavour combinations, textures, presentations - I can't wait.

devindotcom 13y ago

This is just a concept. However, the "burrito bot" exists: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/burritobot-precision-tortilla-filling-machine-835952 http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/burritobot-precision-torti... And its inventor says that the results are kind of nasty. There's a lot more to food than just nutritive compounds.

hassaanm 13y ago

The article is from 2010. Is there any sort of follow up?

regal 13y ago
This one appears to have lived and died as a prototype. Any mention of it after this article has only referenced what original information and images are available on the prototyper's 2010 site. [1] Fab@Home seems to be closer to digitally printing food, though it doesn't seem like any time soon: "Lipton thinks that fabricating a dish of steak and potatoes from scratch is still 15 to 20 years or more in the future." [2] [1] http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia/ http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia/ [2] http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2013/03/19/3d-printing-takes-final-frontier-food/ http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2013/03/19/3d-printing-ta...

Matti 13y ago

One of the concepts: "Digital Chocolatier Prototype The Digital Chocolatier is a prototype for a machine that allows users to quickly design, assemble and taste different chocolate candies. This machine is composed of three primary elements: a carousel of ingredients, a thermoelectric deposition cup and a user interface. Through a graphical user interface, users can select and combine the ingredients housed in the different carousel containers to create customized candies. The carousel rotates to extrude these ingredients into the thermoelectric cup that rapidly cools and hardens the chocolate, making it ready for consumption. The interface also makes it possible to save and rate favorite recipes for later use." -- http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia http://www.cmarcelo.com/cornucopia I can actually see how that could work.

goyalpulkit 13y ago

Reminds me of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" [1] [1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/

altrego99 13y ago

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

willholloway 13y ago
“Coffee, Jamaican blend, double-strong, double-sweet.”

ddeck 13y ago

NASA just funded a Texas company to investigate feasibility of 3D printing food for space missions: http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_food.html http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_f...

aaron695 13y ago

TL;DR; It's just an idea. Which any good entrepreneur knows is as valuable as leaves on a tree. Implementation is whats important.