Pancake, one of the most universal and traditional foods, is getting a major technological upgrade!! This upgrade can help parents who look for using food as a means to teach/ engage their kids or the ones who find it difficult to feed their kids with the same old stuff. This upgrade can break monotony and give a kid’s breakfast table exciting finish. All this possible with the help of a new open source gadget called Pancake Bot, the latest version of which was unveiled at the Bay Area Maker Faire.

PancakeBot is a culinary printer designed by designer Miguel Valenzuela. Acting on the request of his 3 year old daughter, he used LEGO blocks to create his initial prototype, which was subsequently replaced by “an acrylic body, an Arduino Mega, and two Adafruit Motor Shields as well as a few odds and ends like a vacuum pump for batter control.

The PancakeBot works much like a 3D printer, drawing intricately designed pancakes. The batter coming out of the extruder is not flat like ink on a paper, but will have some thickness. Technically it is not the same as a 3D printer, as this printer can print only along X and Y axes but can’t move in Z direction.

But for a foodie, what matters is not whether its 2D or 3D but whether the pancake design printed looks awesome and tastes yummy!!