Okay, so I’ve been messing around with this idea for a “smart” dinner plate. I’m calling it “Dine Ink” for now. The basic idea? A plate that can display stuff, like maybe nutritional info, recipes, or even just fun designs.
I started by sketching out some rough ideas on paper. I mean, really rough. Just circles and squares, trying to figure out how it might work. I thought about using a regular plate and somehow embedding a screen, but that seemed… messy.
Then I remembered I had an old, cheap tablet lying around. I figured, why not? Let’s see if I can rip this thing apart and use the screen. So, I grabbed a screwdriver and some pliers and went to town. It was surprisingly easy to disassemble. I ended up with a thin display panel, some circuitry, and a battery.
The First (Ugly) Prototype
I found a plain white ceramic plate at a thrift store. I wanted something that looked decent, even in this early stage. I used some heavy-duty adhesive (probably not food-safe, oops) to stick the tablet screen to the underside of the plate. It looked… well, it looked like a plate with a screen glued to the bottom. Not exactly elegant.
I cobbled together some wires and connected the screen to the battery and the tablet’s main board. I managed to get it to turn on, which was a small victory! I could display a static image, but it was upside down and backwards. Minor details.
Making it (Slightly) Less Ugly
I spent a few hours fiddling with the software. I’m no programmer, but I managed to find some basic Android customization tutorials online. I flipped the display, mirrored it, and even got a simple image viewer app running.
The wiring was still a mess, though. I tried to tuck everything under the plate, but it was bulky and unstable. I definitely wouldn’t want to put food on it at this point.
The (Current) State of Dine Ink
- It works! Sort of. I can display images on a plate.
- It’s ugly. Like, really ugly. Wires everywhere.
- It’s fragile. I’m pretty sure if I dropped it, it would shatter into a million pieces.
- It’s not food-safe. At all. Don’t eat off this thing.
So, yeah, “Dine Ink” is very much a work in progress. I’m thinking about maybe 3D-printing a custom enclosure to hold everything neatly. And, you know, finding a way to make it actually usable as a plate. But hey, it’s a start! I displayed a picture of a pizza on the plate, and it felt like the future… a very messy, wired-up future.
