We reached out to Emilio Sepulveda (Co-founder and CEO of Natural Machines) to learn more about the development of Foodini. In August , HWTrek sponsored 30 hardware creators and accelerators to visit Taiwan, Beijing, and Shenzhen on Asia Tour 2015 and in April 2014. We’re doing it again next spring. Elaine Wu, product manager, represented Natural Machines on Asia Tour.
Stay tuned to HWTrek by registering on the platform or better yet, create a project to get a leg up on applying to join the next Asia Tour cohort destined to meet manufacturing industry experts, see assembly lines, and gain insights about China’s market in Spring 2016.
HWTrek: Please introduce yourself and your project?
We are the makers of Foodini: the first 3D food printer kitchen appliance to contribute to a healthy eating lifestyle. Real food, 3D printed.
HWTrek: What’s the inspiration for your project? What problem does it solve or address?
One of the founders had a vegan cake business, with demand far away from the manufacturing plant. The cost of the raw materials was low, but the cost of the logistics and packaging was huge (this is one of the reasons why high quality cakes can only be delivered in the neighborhood they are manufactured). So we figured out a way to ship the factory, the recipe and the materials in order to broaden the market. Of course, after talking to our customers, they asked for much more, so we developed a solution that can solve the original problem, but also to work with fresh food selected by the user and work with savoury and sweet food
HWTrek: What solutions did you use for hardware design?
Solidworks, pro engineer, and keyshot.
HWTrek: What solutions did you use for prototyping?
We started with opensource hardware (arduino) and off the shelf components, but we had to design our own systems as we needed more powerful tools.
HWTrek: What are the takeaways and lessons learned from working on this project that you’d like to share with other hardware startups?
It is going to take longer and cost more than what you expect. It is always better to do the design and development with the input of a manufacturer to avoid doing things twice.
HWTrek: What trend do you see that is changing your sector/industry or what shift would you like to see happen?
It will probably happen like in other industries, like computing and smartphones, so adoption pace is going to speed up and innovation cycles and going to shorten, leading to more launches to the market. I also foresee software playing a key role as part of the solution.
HWTrek: What’s next for your project?
Market launch.
HWTrek: What are your ‘go-to’ sources for tech information and news? (Do you have any recommendations for a must-read/watch/listen article, book, blog, film, or podcast, etc.?)
Techcrunch, Businessinsider, alleywatch, and Crunchbase.
