Jan 25 2011
Students of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering have developed AutoFrost, an automated cake-frosting robot.
Cake-Frosting Robot
Few basic specifications of cake like color and size has to be entered by the human operator. The design of the cake has to be included in the paint program featuring a circa-1990 interface. The robot is controlled by the customized application.
The cake and icing nozzle are moved by means of two threaded rods and two stepper motors and are controlled by a pair of Arduinos and stepper motors control. The frosting plunger is placed at an appropriate height over the cake by means of manual method. A servo motor included on a rack and pinion system enables the pressing of frosting. This is followed by decorating the cake based on the initial design entered by the operator.
The developers have reported that they will work on incorporating the robot with several nozzle sizes as well as automated sensing of cake-size.
Source: http://www.olin.edu