While 3D printing is not that new of a concept, people have only recently realized that they could print food using a similar process. Unfortunately, there aren’t that many commercial solutions available at the moment, but ChocaByte means to change that.
SolidIdea, the Sydney-based company that developed ChocaByte, walks on the footsteps of Foodini, a pizza 3D printer I wrote about last December. Since then, the developers of Foodini launched a Kickstarter campaign that might be followed by the mass production of the device if the $100K goal is reached. If Foodini takes care of what could be considered a main course or a snack, ChocaByte was made with the sole purpose of delivering uniquely designed deserts.
Luckily for most chocolate addicts, you don’t need CAD skills to use this 3D printer. On the contrary, the company intends to create a library of chocolate printing templates. Moreover, users will be able to add their own special designs, thus helping the ones who lack creativity.
SolidIdea doesn’t want to make ChocaByte only easy to use, but also very affordable. The manufacturer’s plan is to sell this product for only $99, really an unimaginable price when it comes to 3D printer, regardless of their types. Of course, a printer is of no use without cartridges, and SolidIdea plans to sell sets of four for $10. Still, there is no word on how much each of these cartridges will weigh, so it’s hard to tell whether the price is right or not.
As far as the printing time is concerned, a 2 x 2 x 1 in (5 x 5 x 2.5 cm) chocolate shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to print. It might seem a lot, but after you surprise someone dear with some custom chocolates, you will definitely think that the wait was worth it.
The manufacturers of ChocaByte mean to launch a limited edition of the device. Each printer will be numbered from 001 to 500, but considering how many chocolate addicts are around the globe, there will certainly be a demand for more. Anyone wanting to get such an innovative product should head over to SolidIdea’s website, where the developers opened pre-registrations for orders.
Hopefully this is how the food 3D printing industry takes off. After pizza and chocolate, it will definitely be interesting to see what can be done next using this method that allows highly customizable products.
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