{"id":28479,"date":"2025-04-14T13:11:26","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T11:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentalk.iit.it\/?p=28479"},"modified":"2025-05-23T15:34:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T13:34:32","slug":"robotics-meets-the-culinary-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opentalk.iit.it\/en\/robotics-meets-the-culinary-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics meets the culinary arts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>A Swiss Italian team has created RoboCake, an edible robotic wedding cake that illustrates the advances in robotic food research<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RoboCake is ready: the first edible robotic cake, born from the collaboration between researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) and, along with pastry chefs and food scientists from EHL in Lausanne. RoboCake takes the form of a robotic wedding cake, decorated with two gummy robotic bears and edible dark chocolate batteries that power the candles. The cake project was unveiled today at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, at the Swiss Pavilion, through captivating video and images.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea of creating edible robots or foods that behave like robots may seem absurd, but it is a real challenge that the scientific community is tackling. An international research group is working on this as part of the RoboFood project, funded by the EU and coordinated by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), aiming to merge robotics with gastronomy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cRobotics and food are two separate worlds,\u201d says Dario Floreano, head of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) at EPFL and coordinator of the RoboFood project. \u201cHowever, merging them offers many advantages, particularly in terms of limiting electronic waste and food waste.\u201d Other applications in the fields of emergency nutrition and health are being considered by scientists. \u201cEdible robots could be used to deliver food to endangered areas, to deliver medicines in innovative ways to people who have difficulty swallowing or to animals, or even to monitor food and its freshness using sensors that can be eaten.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Illustrating robotic food research<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating edible robots also offers brand new culinary experiences. The RoboCake, which takes the form of a robotic wedding cake, is an innovative way of illustrating the progress made by the RoboFood project, which aims to develop a new generation of edible robots and intelligent food.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The RoboCake features two completely edible robotic teddy bears, created by the LIS at EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne). \u201cThey are made from gelatin, syrup and colorants,\u201d explains Bokeon Kwak, a researcher at LIS.\u201d They are animated by an internal pneumatic system: when air is injected through dedicated pathways, their heads and arms move.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These dancing bears, which taste like soft sweet pomegranate gummies, are not the only special features of the cake. IIT researchers, coordinated by Mario Caironi, have developed the first edible rechargeable battery, made of vitamin B2, quercetin, activated carbon and chocolate, for the gourmet touch. \u201cThese batteries, safe for consumption, can be used to light the LED candles on the cake,\u201d explains Valerio Galli, a PhD student at IIT.\u201d The first flavor you get when you eat them is dark chocolate, followed by a surprising tangy kick, due to the edible electrolyte inside, which lasts a few seconds\u201d. These batteries represent a potential solution to reducing electronic waste, which reaches 40 million tons per year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The icing on the cake<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To make these innovations appetizing and safe to eat, the engineers teamed up with food experts and pastry chefs from EHL. \u201cOur challenge was to find the best way to showcase the innovations of our two partners, EPFL and IIT, by adding what we do best: indulgence. This is how the RoboCake was born, a true event pastry cake, meeting the challenge of combining technique, electronics, and taste.\u201d says Julien Boutonnet, EHL Senior Lecturer Practical Arts and France\u2019s top distinction, the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) award for pastry and candymaking.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThis interdisciplinary collaboration paves the way for interactive and delicious gastronomic experiences reminding us that food is a precious resource and possibly reducing overeating\u201d, says Dario Floreano.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>About the RoboFood project<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RoboFood is a 3.5-million-euro four-year research project funded by the European Union. Launched in 2021, it brings together scientists from EPFL, IIT, the University of Bristol and the University of Wageningen. The RoboFood project combines food science and robotics in a radically new way to create edible robots and robotized food for food preservation, emergency nutrition, human and veterinary medicine or new culinary experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Swiss Italian team has created RoboCake, an edible robotic wedding cake that illustrates the advances in robotic food research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5038,4554,4552,4556],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iniziative-en","category-en-nanotechnologies","category-en-news","category-en-robotics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Robotics meets the culinary arts - 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