Two New York artists have developed an ice cream cone fitted with sensors that plays music every time the frozen dessert is licked.
Artists Emilie Baltz and Carla Diana created 'Lickestra', a musical performance in which ice cream is used as the instrument.
Lickestra uses cones with embedded capacitive sensors. The cones are placed on top of pedestal-like boxes, and users stand in the boxes with arms at their sides, licking away.
The ice cream sits within the cones and, when licked, causes the sensors to send an electronic signal to an attached Arduino board.
The Arduino feeds a computer on which a library of melody loops and beats is stored, and that controls the subsequent audio output, 'Gizmag' reported.
"We worked closely with Arone Dyer, who crafted a four-part composition that included sounds reminiscent of winter icicles and slippery surfaces," said Baltz.
"Each Lickestra performer was assigned to one sound and could play them as short blips of sound or longer phrases merely by licking the ice cream in different ways," Baltz said.
The artists have already given two performances of Lickestra, including one at New York's School of Visual Arts.