This summer we heard about a 3-D printer for food developed with NASA funding, but we didn’t have much to look at in the way of a prototype. Now, lo and behold, the printer has shown up at SXSW Eco, and we caught a short demonstration from the makers, a group from Systems and Materials Research Corporation. The printer served up a pie, made with dough, ketchup and cream cheese (?).
The printer is still in its earliest stages, so the creators haven’t quite perfected the process. Instead of making a classic slice, they’re showing off the proper levels of pizza viscosity with similar ingredients: ketchup for sauce, cream cheese for a fine ricotta. The idea’s more or less the same, though: the printer lays down a layer of dough from a stock of simple, non-perishable ingredients, then layers the sauce (ketchup) and cheese (cream cheese) on top. A heated surface bakes the pizza.
Eink, E-paper, Think Ink – Collin shares six segments pondering the unusual low-power display technology that somehow still seems a bit sci-fi – http://adafruit.com/thinkink
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
