3-D printing has had some excellent real-world applications, but my favorites are always the food-based ones. The pancake bot, the Oreo bot, the pastry bot, the pasta bot. Now, 3D Systems has developed a high-end chocolate printer for The Hershey Company.
Hershey debuted what they’ve dubbed the CocoJet last month at Hershey’s Chocolate World, and they brought it to the Consumer Electronics Show to demonstrate EXACTLY what a computer can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate. 3D Systems has made candy printers in the past, the most expensive of which runs about $10,000, so this might not exactly be an impulse buy for your average chocolate fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gyKmB6RK-4
Unlike printing with other, non-chocolate building materials, the CocoJet can’t just keep extruding chocolate continually. In order to give the candy time to temper, it has to wait between each layer for the chocolate to cool. Otherwise you’d just end up with a big ol’ mess. The final results have some at CES saying it’s the most sophisticated food printer they’ve ever seen. A shiny golden ticket to the Uproxx reader who can photoshop Oompa Loompas in the unemployment line!