With nine 3D printers already in production in his workshop, Joel Hackett started toying with the chocolate printer in 2015.

Mr Hackett said it was a challenge to perfect the chocolate version, which he had modified three times.

“The aim is to print a complex bowl to put Smarties in - something unique that you can’t use a mould for,” he said.

Inspired to create a fully-functioning robot, In Moov, Mr Hackett bought his first 3D printer three years ago.

“It took 700 hours to print it; it’s voice activated and you can talk to him and he talks back,” Mr Hackett said.

A PGH Bricks Jindera employee, Mr Hackett said his hobby business, 3D Things, kept him busy printing “anything and everything”.

“I did a cookie cutter set based on a Mongolian theme for a local client,” he said.

“Right now I’m printing building parts that had gone out of production.”

Together with his wife Katrina, Mr Hackett has a daughter Claudia, 3, and a baby due in November.

He made a body scan of Katrina, which was recorded on a laptop and converted into a 3D printed object.

“The scan takes five minutes and it’s a nice keepsake of pregnancy,” he said.

“I print personalised wedding cake toppers in the same way – the bride dresses up in her gown and the groom in his suit for the scan.”

The 3D printed items are made from myriad plastic filaments.