Have a Battery Cake and Eat It

You can’t have your cake and eat it, or so the proverb goes, because after you eat it all the cake is gone. That said, a European Union-funded project, RoboFood, wants to merge robots and food. So you can have a battery cake and eat it, if you like, although neither food nor robots will survive. Has the world gone crazy, or is there logic in this?

Three Possible Reasons to Eat a Battery Cake

The Swiss Federal Institute of Lausanne, suggests three reasons why we might like to have a battery cake and eat it:

It could help reduce battery waste in landfill.
We could administer medication without packaging.
But it could also be a fun gastronomic experience.

The Proof of the Pudding Is In the Eating

“We are still figuring out which edible materials work similarly to non-edible ones,” explains a researcher. “For example, gelatin can replace rubber, and rice cookies are akin to foam. A chocolate film can protect robots in humid environments, and mixing starch and tannin can mimic commercial glues.”

But that’s not all by far. The RoboCake also boasts two completely edible robotic teddy bears, made from gelatin, syrup and colorants. An internal pneumatic system animates them. When air injects through dedicated pathways, their heads and arms move.

“The batteries are safe for consumption,” explains a PhD student. “We can use them to light the LED candles on the cake. The first flavor you get when you eat the batteries, is dark chocolate.

“A surprising tangy kick follows, due to the edible electrolyte inside, which lasts a few seconds”. And so the moral of our story is this: You can have a battery cake and eat it, while the gelatin teddy bears dance.