Strong, flexible and responsive

Edible materials offer opportunities beyond food consumption because they are renewable, biodegradable and safely digestible. This thesis investigates how edible composite materials can be rationally designed and processed to obtain tailored material properties for applications in health, society and the environment. Inspired by soft robotic design, two complementary material classes were explored: strong and rigid composites, and soft and flexible composites. For the rigid materials, an edible filament suitable for fused-deposition modelling was developed and used to 3D print various demonstrator structures. For the flexible materials, hydrogel films with tailored mechanical properties were developed and evaluated based on their responsiveness to changes in pressure. Together, the results establish a rational material science approach for formulating, processing and evaluating edible composites based on the relationship between composition, processing and material performance. These insights advance the development of edible robots and robotic foods, while also demonstrating the broader potential of edible materials as functional structural materials.