It's no secret: everybody loves pancakes. It's basically fried cake for breakfast, and if that doesn't get you excited, absolutely nothing will.
However, there's been a new twist on pancakes as of late: custom pancakes. We've reported on it before (a few times, in fact), and it's safe to say that the only way a pancake can get better is if it looks like Darth Vader. Of course, drawing with pancake batter takes a lot of skill and patience - something that not everyone has, especially first thing in the morning.
Finally, through the magic of 3D printing, there is a solution: PancakeBot.
If you've ever seen a 3D printer, then you'll have a basic idea of how PancakeBot works. It's relatively simple: first, a drawing or photo is imported into the printer's software, which is then traced over again by the user. The first lines of the drawing are always printed first - meaning that if you want a dark outline around your pancake, that's the first line you draw.
From there, it's just a matter of finishing up the drawing and letting the printer do its thing, and after a few minutes on the griddle, the pancake is ready for flipping. It's easy to think that the pancake batter would simply spread itself out, and while that is true to some extent (it's not like drawing with a pen), the results are surprisingly accurate. As long as you don't go in expecting to recreate every detail of the "Mona Lisa," the PancakeBot should do your drawing justice.
As of this writing, the Kickstarter has been successfully funded, but there's still a ways to go. There are a few different stretch goals: at $250,000, additional color options will be implemented; at $500,000, a spatula and extra batter bottle will be included with the kit; at $1,000,000, an SD card with pre-loaded designs will also be included.
To actually grab one of the PancakeBots, you'll need to put down at least $149 dollars (it's the cheapest tier that nets you a printer) - which, all things considered, isn't that bad. There's no real way of telling whether or not that PancakeBot can be converted back into a standard 3D printer, but considering that the dedicated printers can go for as much as $2,000, the PancakeBot is fairly cheap.
So far, the PancakeBot is on schedule for a release later this year, and barring any major delays, rewards will begin shipping out sometime in July.
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