3D printers are the in thing right now. Everyone’s definitely heard of 3D printers and many people have had the chance to see it operate in real life.

It truly is amazing how each items are created but so far, it has all been just inedible materials like plastic, nylon, glass, etc.

Now, a Japanese startup has unveiled a robot which can print out EDIBLE food!

Source: NextShark

According to NextShark, Open Meals showcased their latest technology at the SXSW trade show and it has totally hyped netizens up.

The Pixel Food Printer prints out some of the most adorable 8-bit styled sushi using a type of gel that is safe for consumption. To bring out the colour and taste, the gel is mixed with certain colourings and flavourings.

Plus, this special machine can even mimic the texture of the food it is printing!

Source: NextShark

A digital platform called Food Base is the database which users can access to get the exact measurements of different kinds of foods. The measurements include the flavour, shape, colour, texture and even nutrients!

In the future, users can search, download and upload food data from this Food Base.

Once the data has been input into the Pixel Food Printer, the custom-built robotic arm will produce each pixel cube according to the appropriate flavour for each dish.

Watch the machine in action right here:

Of course, these 3D-printed sushi aren’t like those perfectly handcrafted, traditionally made sushi just yet. Open Meals are focusing on making each printed pixel smaller as well as to ensure that the printed foods look, taste and smell exactly like real ones.

Regardless, the future is indeed happening right now; the future which we all looked forward. Though we may not have flying cars just yet, we do have many amazing technology today which we never thought we could achieve before.

Source: NextShark

Hopefully the company will achieve their goal of ‘sending’ food to people a distance away using this machine such as being able to teleport food from Earth to astronauts in space.

Hey, we all ought to dream big right?

Watch as a representative of Open Meals, Sakaki Ryousuke, explain about the Pixel Food Printer here: