Robotics meets the culinary arts

RoboCake is prepared. This edible robotic cake is the results of a collaboration between researchers from EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Expertise in Lausanne), the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Expertise) and pastry cooks and meals scientists from EHL in Lausanne.

It takes the type of a robotic marriage ceremony cake, adorned with two gummy robotic bears and edible darkish chocolate batteries that energy the candles. The mission was unveiled on the Swiss Pavilion of the Expo 2025 Osaka by way of fascinating video and pictures.

The concept of making edible robots or meals that behave like robots could seem bizarre, however it’s a actual problem that the scientific group is tackling. A world analysis group is engaged on this as a part of the RoboFood mission. It goals to develop a brand new technology of edible robots and clever meals.

“Robotics and meals are two separate worlds,” says Dario Floreano, head of the Laboratory of Clever Techniques (LIS) at EPFL and coordinator of the RoboFood mission. “Nonetheless, merging them provides many benefits, notably by way of limiting digital waste and meals waste.”

Different purposes within the fields of emergency diet and well being are being thought of by scientists. “Edible robots could possibly be used to ship meals to endangered areas, to ship medicines in revolutionary methods to individuals who have issue swallowing or to animals, and even to observe meals and its freshness utilizing sensors that may be eaten.”

Illustrating robotic meals analysis

Creating edible robots additionally provides model new culinary experiences. The RoboCake is an revolutionary means of illustrating the progress made by the RoboFood mission.

The RoboCake options two utterly edible robotic teddy bears, created by the LIS at EPFL. “They’re comprised of gelatin, syrup and colorants,” explains Bokeon Kwak, a researcher at LIS. “They’re animated by an inner pneumatic system: when air is injected by way of devoted pathways, their heads and arms transfer.”

These dancing bears, which style like gentle candy pomegranate gummies, usually are not the one particular options of the cake. IIT researchers, coordinated by Mario Caironi, have developed the primary edible rechargeable battery, product of vitamin B2, quercetin, activated carbon and chocolate, for the gourmand contact.

“These batteries, secure for consumption, can be utilized to gentle the LED candles on the cake,” explains Valerio Galli, a Ph.D. pupil at IIT. “The primary taste you get if you eat them is darkish chocolate, adopted by a stunning tangy kick, as a result of edible electrolyte inside, which lasts just a few seconds.” These batteries symbolize a possible answer to decreasing digital waste, which reaches 40 million tonnes per 12 months.

The icing on the cake

To make these improvements appetizing and fit for human consumption, the engineers teamed up with meals specialists and pastry cooks from EHL.

“Our problem was to search out the easiest way to showcase the improvements of our two companions, EPFL and IIT, by including what we do greatest: indulgence. That is how the RoboCake was born, a real occasion pastry cake, assembly the problem of mixing approach, electronics, and style,” says Julien Boutonnet, EHL Senior Lecturer Sensible Arts and France’s high distinction, the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) award for pastry and candymaking.

“This interdisciplinary collaboration paves the way in which for interactive and scrumptious gastronomic experiences reminding us that meals is a treasured useful resource and probably decreasing overeating,” says Floreano.