7 | Burritobot: A 3-D Printer That Spits Out Burritos | Co.Design: business + innovation + design.
Although the Burritobot’s canisters make it a robot cousin to Taco Bell’s sour cream guns, the idea of using 3-D printers for food is not new at all. A growing movement of geeks, makers, academics, and startups have been playing with the idea of personal fabricators for home use. The Fab@home Project over at Cornell University has developed 3-D printers in conjunction with the French Culinary Institute that create a wide range of foods. Fast Company has previously written about Cornell’s 3-D printed scallop nuggets that resemble tiny space shuttles; other foods successfully created inside 3-D printers include cakes, cookies, ramen noodles, and beef patties. Various startups, such as Essential Dynamics, are also working on the technology. These printers all work by creating “inks” out of edible ingredients that can then be turned into real foods via a few hours in the 3-D printer.