OT, but beer related DIY project

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Seabee John

Swing the BIG hammer
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EDIT: I probably should have put this in drunken ramblings or another thread, but I figured you DIY'ers would get a kick out of this. I plan to put it into service, dispensing Ed's apfelwein and cranberry mixers.

Many of you know I went back to school to get my engineering degree. I just started out, and as required I had to take the intro to engineering course at my community college.

As part of the class, we learned about micro controllers and simple circuits. Our final project? A robot, that had to do something. My partner and I decided on a robot that would not only pour you a beer, but the perfect beer. It measures the volume of your glass and then pours you your beer based off of your input choices.

The video below was taken tonight after we got the bugs worked out. I've got straight water in the kegs cause it would be to expensive (or I'd get to druk) testing with beer! :D

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_DoMDB97eo]YouTube - iDRINK the robot[/ame]
 
haha, that is awesome! So it would measure and pour perfectly in different size cups as well? Very cool project.
 
John, that is a great project. BTW, don't you think you went a bit overboard on the intro course project ???? ;)

That is better than half your classes senior design projects will be.
 
omg... that is so awesome!! A beer pouring robot IS the beginning of the end for fellow couch potatoes!!! What would be even cooler is to string all your projects together if you have a chance. Like one to load your fridge with glasses, keep inventory of how many glasses you have and to place the glasses on the turntable. Another to pick up the full glass of beer and put it on a convayor belt which would carry it to different seats at the bar...... or to your couch..... Maybe even incorperate a dishwasher so you push a button to carry your glass back to be washed and put back into the glass inventory.... You could even get the digital gauges which tell you how many oz of your keg you've used so it can alert you to replace your kegs.... HAHA!!! then maybe one to replace said kegs... The possibilities are endless... This is definately up there on the coolness scale. Grats on the sweet build!!! (best part is if something goes wrong, which it always does with custom built equipment, damn gremlins..., you are the one who built it!!! Don't need to call anyone! Just get out your screw driver and tweak a setting!!) Enough of my drunken ramblings. Off to bed!!! Next time I pour a glass I'll definately raise it to your robot and team!! Can't wait to see what else team Alot comes up with!! Cheers!!! :mug:
 
John, that is a great project. BTW, don't you think you went a bit overboard on the intro course project ???? ;)

That is better than half your classes senior design projects will be.

It's funny you said that, our professor was joking with my partner and I about the fact that there is no one on our team to really "hold us back" when needed... I remarked "Kind of like a solid fuel rocket with no tail fins?" ... you get the idea...

So yea, We went way overboard on the project, but hey.... after the "robot show" next week, most robots will be disassembled, and parts put on the shelf.... mine will be put into service serving apfelwein and cranberry juice to the ladies :D

gotta build to last
 
Great project! When I was in college I built a fridge that would dispense one canned or bottled beer out the side and send it down a ramp to you on the couch. I built it at home on Thanksgiving weekend. A few months later I used it for the mechanical portion of a controls project. We rigged it to a remote control to key the system as well as an LED counter that let you know how much was left in the fridge. Fun, but not nearly as intricate as your project. Well done.
 
Well, just a little update... iDRINK the Robot, took "Best of Show" at this years Century College Engineering Dept. Robot Show. Woo Hoo!!!! Alex and I had a blast working on the project and everything worked really well.
 
You remind me of the old guy in my classes when I was in tech school. There was an old Mine worker ~40yrs old that got injured when a giant chain snapped and lashed him across the back. Well not he had nothing to but sit at home and and go way overboard with his projects and take valuum. Made us all look retarded. We were your normal busy college students trying to balance home work/projects/bars and beerpong, not to mention the beer pong table build!

But me and my roomate did win our school Robot Competition. They weren't really robots, We just had to build basically thether remote controlled "cars" to compete in 3 tests of speed course, agility and blowing out a candle, and King of the mountain seeing who could raise the ping pong ball the highest in the middle of the mountain.


There's perfect pour robot/kegerator on Youtube by some engineering students that you'rs puts to shame.

You can always tell the guys going BACK to college versus the ones coming from highschool.
 
You remind me of the old guy in my classes when I was in tech school. There was an old Mine worker ~40yrs old that got injured when a giant chain snapped and lashed him across the back. Well not he had nothing to but sit at home and and go way overboard with his projects and take valuum. Made us all look retarded. We were your normal busy college students trying to balance home work/projects/bars and beerpong, not to mention the beer pong table build!

But me and my roomate did win our school Robot Competition. They weren't really robots, We just had to build basically thether remote controlled "cars" to compete in 3 tests of speed course, agility and blowing out a candle, and King of the mountain seeing who could raise the ping pong ball the highest in the middle of the mountain.


There's perfect pour robot/kegerator on Youtube by some engineering students that you'rs puts to shame.

You can always tell the guys going BACK to college versus the ones coming from highschool.

You know, it's funny that you mention the difference between an older more experienced student vs. the kid who's whole life has been school. Most of these kids couldn't think their way out of a wet paper bag.... but the ones who had Fathers who took em out and did stuff with them seem to have similar skills to mine (call it an unscientific observation on my part). Once you get out and experience the "need" to come up with a solution right now, you tend to change the way you approach problems.

So, here's where this little unit will be employed: I ran a test with carbonated "apfewein" and un-carbonated cranberry juice... half and half is a great tasting mix... the pour works fine and all is good. Thus, witness the birth of iDRINK, the LPR dispensing robot... (LPR = Liquid Pantie Remover) :D Too bad the wife doesn't drink anything other than vodka... :mad:
 
I'm saluting your robot as I type. I really like the thinking and process you went through as well as the final product. Seriously cool. I toast thee!:mug:
 
Here's the finished version pouring an Apfelwein/Cranberry mixer.... still working on how to rig a brolly spoon for a black & tan...:D

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFqmJucUtEA]YouTube - iDRINK (Finished ver.)[/ame]
 
Love the finished look of it. Does the the equation take into consideration the slope of the glass? ie a standard pint glass versus say a tom Collins glass being Straight up.
 
Love the finished look of it. Does the the equation take into consideration the slope of the glass? ie a standard pint glass versus say a tom Collins glass being Straight up.

Nope... we built some fudge factor into the whole thing. As far as the microcontroller thinks, all the glasses are perfect cylinders. But as long as the x-axis switch makes contact somewhere in the middle of the glass, it's getting the average.
 
That's cool. I was just wondering if you could pour a hefe, then switch to a Trippel if using style Appropriate glasses.

You going to keep this operational at your house?
 
You going to keep this operational at your house?

I have a meeting with the engr dept after my final today to decide the fate of iDRINK. I own part of it, the school owns part of it... long story short, The school is being pressured by the main FABLAB at MIT to send the unit out there to be displayed for a year, so I'm not sure if I'll get to keep it or not. I'm not really up for building a replica, and the school just wants me to give it up.... but I've firmly stated that if they want the unit, someone has to cut me a check for my taps and hardware, even if it could come back to me after a year.

We'll see. I have hopes that they'll just let me cut them a check for the cost of their parts. At this point, I have to weigh the cost of buying the machine from them against spending the cash on other beer stuff or even getting cash from them to spend on other beer stuff.

who knows. I'll give you an update later today.
 
Seabee John - Best of luck, but what ever you do, don't sign away any rights to it. You never know 20 years from now you might never see a bartender in a bar. Which would be a shame since most of my bartenders are pretty hot.
 
that's pretty flattering, that they want to display it!

can it account for odd-shaped glasses? What if you were to put a goblet on there?
 
Wow.. You just remind me of how dumb I am... MIT does not except just anyone!!


Very cool project!!!
 
I have a meeting with the engr dept after my final today to decide the fate of iDRINK. I own part of it, the school owns part of it... long story short, The school is being pressured by the main FABLAB at MIT to send the unit out there to be displayed for a year, so I'm not sure if I'll get to keep it or not. I'm not really up for building a replica, and the school just wants me to give it up.... but I've firmly stated that if they want the unit, someone has to cut me a check for my taps and hardware, even if it could come back to me after a year.

We'll see. I have hopes that they'll just let me cut them a check for the cost of their parts. At this point, I have to weigh the cost of buying the machine from them against spending the cash on other beer stuff or even getting cash from them to spend on other beer stuff.

who knows. I'll give you an update later today.

Take the loss man, no questions.

Having you project displayed is promotion for yourself, something you can write on your CV. Just think of it as an investment in your own future. Don't fight that over a few dollars worth of hardware.

Seriously.


ETA : Forgot to say; awesome robot!
 
Wow.. You just remind me of how dumb I am... MIT does not except just anyone!!


Very cool project!!!


Woah!... pull back on the reigns there... I didn't say "I" was going to MIT.... MIT sponsors the "FABLAB" (Fabrication Laboratory) program which ties schools via real time video uplinks so that knowledge can be shared between students in engineering programs across the globe.

MIT will display projects from time to time (in an effort to show the people who hold the purse strings that they need more tax dollars for the program)

Trust me, I may be smarter than a fifth grader, but I'm not MIT material. In fact, I did so well on my algebra final, that they want me to come back and take the class again (Epic Fail)

But, I still consider iDRINK a success, and as HBT's humble community college representative will do my best to infuse beer related projects with the very "anti-alcohol" collegiate system. (someone's gotta show these uptight professors that there is "life" outside of the education system)

As far as my meeting yesterday, the robot will remain at school and may be included with a group of projects being considered for a trip to other schools (MIT included).... so in bureaucracy terms "we have no idea what's going to happen"
 
that's pretty flattering, that they want to display it!

can it account for odd-shaped glasses? What if you were to put a goblet on there?

toss a goblet into the mix, and the mix will end up being very small. It's meant to measure cylindrical shapes only. However, with the project over, (and no more constraints) we are free to experiment at will. There's an upper level circuits guru that wants to see if we can measure the glasses with sound or laser light... that would effectively measure the exact dimensions of the inside of the glass rather than the diameter x height, which doesn't take the thickness of the glass into consideration...
 
Very cool! The most recent Popular Science also had a robot that was made to dispense drinks/beer at bars. This thing would go around to different customers and then make the drink that they ordered. Even would make mixed drinks. I think your little invention right here is amazing! And just think.. that's just a beginners course in Engineering from a community college. Can't wait to see what you come up with once you're done with the full degree!!
 
someone's gotta show these uptight professors that there is "life" outside of the education system

Clearly you are hanging with the wrong "professors" if you think we are all uptight.

My kegerator. Let me show it to you...

Excellent project and best of luck with the engineering degree!

:mug:
 
Clearly you are hanging with the wrong "professors" if you think we are all uptight.

My kegerator. Let me show it to you...

Excellent project and best of luck with the engineering degree!

:mug:

I guess I chose the wrong group of people.... here let me correct my statement:

But, I still consider iDRINK a success, and as HBT's humble community college representative will do my best to infuse beer related projects with the very "anti-alcohol" collegiate system. (someone's gotta show these uptight administrators, lawyers, professors, and other enemies of freedom who are responsible for the no alcohol policy on campus that there is "life" outside of the education system)
 
real cool, John. i didn't take the time to read the whole thread (in a bit of a hurry to go fishing), what did the professor think about it?

also congrats on going back to school!

edit: just read your location, i thought you sounded a bit minnesotan, my roommate monica is from the same area :p
 
real cool, John. i didn't take the time to read the whole thread (in a bit of a hurry to go fishing), what did the professor think about it?

also congrats on going back to school!

edit: just read your location, i thought you sounded a bit minnesotan, my roommate monica is from the same area :p

My professor thought it was really cool, but you know, he may have "discouraged" the beer talk....
 
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