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3D printing is venturing beyond plastic and into your home
When you think of what 3D printing can do, you probably imagine simple plastic models and parts -- clever, but not exactly revolutionary. If you ask Dovetailed's Vaiva Kalnikaite and Make's Anna Kaziunas France, however, they'll tell you that 3D printers can accomplish much, much more. Dovetailed's 3D-printed fruit is just the start of what you can do with food, for example. Kalnikaite told Engadget Expand guests that 3D printing offers not just extra creativity with how you present meals, but a way to change the meals themselves. Do you like the taste of bananas, but not their texture? You could print food that offers everything you like, and nothing you don't. This could be particularly helpful if you have a food allergy, since you could enjoy food that was previously off-limits.
Engadget Expand is all about you. And us. But really, you.
Engadget Expand is our annual event that's all about you -- our fans. It's not your typical tech conference that's priced for people fortunate to have an expense account. We make the event completely FREE thanks to our generous sponsors, giving you the chance to experience the future -- right now. And while you're at it, you get to meet your favorite Engadget editors. When you join us at the Javits Center North in New York City next week on November 7-8, you'll be set loose on our show floor. You can check out some of our exhibitors and get your hands on gadgets that people can't buy yet (or in some cases, build your own in our workshops), head to our Expand stage and hear from some smart and inspiring people and so much more.
Five questions for the woman who's 3D printing edible fruit
In the last few years 3D printing has gone from a niche within a niche, to one of the most headline-grabbing fields in tech. Consumers haven't exactly embraced the technology, but it is beginning to trickle down into the homes of more hobbyists and entrepreneurs. The DIY community has fallen in love with its versatility and even NASA has embraced it as a way to do ad hoc repairs on the International Space Station. But really, that's just scratching the surface of what 3D printers are capable of. Vaiva Kalnikaitė and her company Dovetailed used fruit juice to print edible fruits, and surgeons have used 3D-printed parts to repair injuries. There are even people out there printing human organs and homes. We're going to be sitting down with Kalnikaitė and Anna Kaziunas France, digital fabrication editor at Maker Media, at Engadget Expand on November 8th. But in case you need a little tease to get you in the mood, we've got a short Q&A with Kalnikaitė after the break.
Machine ridicules nature by turning fruit juice into fruit
3D printing with meat and sugar is fine, but where's the food for the more health conscious futurists among us? Cambridge based design studio Dovetailed might have the solution, after developing hardware that can print fruit, or at least, a close approximation. Droplets of fruit juice and alginic acid are dropped into a bath of calcium chloride, which causes them to form a gelatinous ball. By repeating this action several times, molecular gastronomists chefs are able to build them up into structures that kinda look like berries. We're not sure if we'd be able to switch this out for our regular apple-per-day, but hell, it's better than a diet entirely comprised of burgers and delicately-crafted candy.
