Speaking of chocolate, many of us would recall scenes from the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory: a chocolate waterfall leaping down, a dragon boat sailing in a river of flowing syrup, a chewing gum meadow, and fields covered with candy... What a delightful scene!

Now, the dream has come into reality as ZJU graduate Zou Min successfully designs a self-service chocolate 3D printer. This amazing piece of innovation wins the Design Intelligence Award and brings endless imagination to food creation.

The China Design Intelligence Award is the first collegiate award in the field of industrial design in China. Established in 2015, it serves as a platform for evaluation, promotion and cooperation of contemporary innovative design. The competition advocates design to return to its origin of intellectualism and brings together the world's creative resources.

Registration for this competition is open for enterprises, design institutes, academic institutions and individuals in any country around the world. Entries include innovative product design as well as innovative system design integrating products and services.

Zou Min is a postgraduate student from the College of Computer Science at Zhejiang University, the vice chairman of student association for the Graduate School of Computer Science at Zhejiang University, and an Outstanding Graduate Student.

Li Jingyuan was a graduate student from the Department of Industrial Design at Zhejiang University and is now the CEO of Hangzhou Shiyin Tech Ltd. The goal of these two designers is to transform 3D printer from a machine to a device that enables every consumer to enjoy the food-creation process.

The team developed a number of new technologies for food printing, such as needle channel printing, dual temperature-control heating, and automatic equalization. The combination of these new technologies not only makes food looks pretty, but also delicious. It is a consumer-grade food 3D printer for everyone--- just by following the simple process of “Scan, Select and Print. The product supports three customized DIY methods: hand-painted modeling, photo rendering and text creation. This gives users plenty of room for creativity and imagination. The designer's philosophy is that every consumer can become a creator and enjoy the fun of food creation. Ultimately, our diet experience will go beyond taste and become an innovative process.