There was a pattern in recent times of confectionary magicians blurring the road between muffins and nearly each different possible object. SNL’s Mikey Day even hosted a lackluster TV present on the topic known as Is It Cake?, which challenged bakers to disguise their muffins and contests to establish the edible frauds. However virtually all of these muffins have one factor in frequent: they’re static and lifeless. That’s why we’re so enamored by this cake created by Hazal and Abigail that can also be a totally useful digicam.
This isn’t new territory for Abigail. She has an internet site showcasing her many sugary initiatives and most of them incorporate electronics, in addition to some stage of interactivity. When she met Hazal, she described herself as a “confectionery roboticist.” Hazal works for Viam, a robotics firm, and thought it could be enjoyable to make use of Abigail’s abilities for an upcoming occasion. They’ve a working joke at Viam that every thing is a digicam—from precise imaging sensors to bump sensors. Thus, the pair chosen a digicam as the topic for the cake.
If it weren’t for the electronics, this may appear like the sort of cake a gifted baker would possibly assemble out of fondant to have fun the launch of a brand new digicam mannequin from Panasonic or one thing. It isn’t fairly real looking sufficient to idiot anybody close by, however it seems implausible.
Then the electronics convey it to life, as a result of it really works like an actual digicam. Contained in the frosting-covered lens, there’s a USB webcam. That gives a dwell feed to a Raspberry Pi hidden within the facade of the digicam physique. An LCD panel sits precisely the place you’ll count on it to, displaying occasion attendees a dwell view of what the digicam sees. Lastly, an arcade button and thermal printer sit in entrance of the sheet cake platform.
Hazal programmed the Raspberry Pi with facial recognition so it might probably detect anybody inside view of the digicam. When it does, it illuminates a hoop of NeoPixel LEDs on the entrance of the fake lens. If an attendee needs a photograph of themselves, they’ll push the button and the LEDs with flash to point a timer countdown. The receipt printer will then spit out info on the picture, akin to time taken and the picture quantity, to allow them to seize their image later.
That is such a enjoyable undertaking that it’s a disgrace that it might probably’t final eternally.
