Three students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have patched together a 3D printer that can produce delicious edible ice cream. Kyle Hounsell, Kristine Bunker and David Donghyun latched a soft-serve ice cream machine to a modified 3D printer as a part of a graduate project and have made news as being the first to do so.
The 3D printer sits inside a small freezer. A liquid nitrogen lines hit the ice cream as it’s placed, which keeps it solid from start to finish. The instant cooling allows the printer to build up the ice cream layers in the same way a conventional 3D printer squirts down layers of plastic. The students were under pressure to maintain a high level of accuracy and print resolution to allow for different shapes while they optimized the processing time of the ice cream. They managed to get the process time down to 15 minutes.
via MIT
In a guardian.com interview, the students explained, “We imagine this technology being marketable in ice cream parlors such as Dairy Queen where customers can order an ice cream treat, wait 15 minutes and see the shape they chose to create. Of course, last and more importantly, we aim to enjoy the ice cream after successful printing.”
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The proof-of-concept printer must be developed before it can be sold for commercial use, but the technology should be available soon. If the students or a third-party manufacturer continues to develop the system, it could be available in short order.
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