A startup team of students from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has developed a 3D food printer powered by artificial intelligence that can customize soft meals in just three minutes for elderly people with swallowing difficulties.

Connie Lee Kong-Wai, CEO of Elevate Foods and a PhD student at HKUST, explained that their 3D food printer employs a graphene heater with ultra-fast nano-thin film heating technology, allowing it to layer and cook pureed food simultaneously.

She added that this process is significantly faster compared to traditional soft meal preparation, which typically takes several hours.

She noted that currently, the system can produce four soft meals, such as chicken legs or vegetables, in just three minutes, significantly reducing labor and time.

Lee added that the team has integrated AI with extrusion printing and synchronized infrared heating. Using Python programming, the system generates custom food patterns and fine-tunes the texture for optimal results.

She shared that the team is developing a wider variety of soft meals, including egg tarts, puddings, and waffles. An upgraded version of the 3D food printer is set to launch this summer.

Later this year, the team will partner with three institutions, including the Heaven of Hope hospital, to offer trial tastings for elderly patients and launch STEM programs for primary and secondary schools to promote public education in this innovative field.

They emphasized that their printer operates differently from conventional food-processing machines and expressed hope that the government would adopt more flexible policies to support this emerging technology.

(Cheng Wong)

HKUST startup team develops AI-assisted 3D food printer