Inebriator Servers Up All The Cocktails

The robotic bartender, lovingly named the Inebriator, is a work of mastery. We think you’ll be surprised by the simplicity and grace of its beverage dispensing system.

The most obvious part is the lineup of nine liquor bottles across the top with LED backlight for style. Each has a valve on it that is meant to be pressed on by the rim of a glass in order to dispense its payload. To dose the glass with alcohol the Inebriator drives a trolley along one axis beneath the line of bottles. When in position it has an actuator arm the rises up and depresses the bottle’s valve mechanism. Once all the liquor is in the glass it moves to the left side to be topped off with mixers. These are stored in bottles in a cooler under the table. They are pressurized with nitrogen, and an electronically actuated value lets the liquid flow. Drinks are selected on a character display, and there’s a weight sensor in the trolley to ensure that a drink isn’t mixed without a vessel to receive it.

You don’t want to miss seeing this in action after the break.

[via Reddit]

39 thoughts on “Inebriator Servers Up All The Cocktails

      1. I remember years ago I had a toy that would let you mix “potions” by “magic”. It used a small wand with a magnet in it, and another magnet underneath the base. When you pressed the button, the magnet in the base would move in a circle, moving the wand, thus stirring the drink. I bet something similar could work here, except with a electromagnet?

      2. Yep. Look up “stir bar” or “magnetic stirrer”. These are considered standard equipment in any laboratory. Pretty much all lab hot plates have built-in support for stir bars.

      1. This is the way I see it.

        Two electromagnets: one powerful above the glass, one normal below it. The one above the glass is normally on at low power, keeping the stirrer attached to it.

        When stirring is needed the glass is placed in the stirring station by the carriage. Top magnet disengages, stirrer drops in glass. Bottom magnet applies rotating field, stirring the drink. When stirring is done, top magnet engages at full power, drawing the stirrer up through the drink and back in place, then stays on at low power again. Add a few sprinklers to wash the stirrer when it’s being held on top and you’ve got yourself a stirring solution.

      2. They use stir bars for highly sensitive chemical mixtures all the time. The magnet is usually encased with a plastic covering which is easily sanitized between uses. A stir bar is probably the easiest solution for stirring, hands down.

        On the other hand, what if James Bond comes to your bar. He’ll be shooting your machine when it doesn’t listen to his precise instructions for “shaken, not stirred.”

  1. Ive been thinking of building a bartender bot of sorts, and this one would be a rather easy build by the looks of it. Perhaps adding ice, and weighing it before and after to calculate volume? Stirring would be an easy addition too. I like its simplicity. Well done.

  2. In case you are looking to replicate this yourselves, the ‘valves’ on the bottles are known as optics, and can be fairly cheaply had, particularly if you know someone that works in the industry.

    1. The gas pressurises the bottles of drink mix which are out of sight. So the pressure of the gas, in the bottle, forces the liquid up a tube and out into the glass when the valve, to let the liquid out, is opened. so you don’t have to pump the fluid directly. Nitrogen is largely inert and cheap so a good gas to use.

  3. To stir the drink something like a drill press with a stir rod that lowers would work. Add an Ice machine and I can see this being a cocktail vending machine for use at bars.

  4. I think it’s too slow to be commercially interesting. Other than an eye catcher it will not get your drinks done faster.

    Nice project nevertheless and would looooove to have one.

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