Drinkro The Synchro Bartender

There is a significant constituency among hackers and makers for whom it is not the surroundings in which the drink is served or the character of the person serving it that is important, but the quality of its preparation. Not for them the distilled wit and wisdom of a bartender who has seen it all, instead the computer-controlled accuracy of a precisely prepared drink. They are the creators of bartending robots, and maybe some day all dank taverns will be replaced with their creations.

Drinkro is a bartending robot built by the team at [Synchro Labs]. It uses a Raspberry Pi 3 and a custom motor controller board driving a brace of DC peristaltic liquid pumps. that lift a variety of constituent beverages into the user’s glass. There is a multi-platform app through which multiple thirsty drinkers can place their orders, and all the source code and hardware files can be found in GitHub repositories. The robot possesses a fairly meagre repertoire of vodka and only three mixers, but perhaps it will be expanded with more motor driver and pump combinations.

There is a video of the machine in action, shown below the break. We can’t help noticing it’s not the fastest of bartenders, but maybe speed isn’t everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KpcA1cZvbw

Bartending robots have featured before here at Hackaday. The Chilean Indio Picaro dolls serving drinks in their unique style for example, or this slot machine shot machine. But for the true seeker of a bar experience without human contact, how about pairing one with this Korean robotic drinking buddy?

14 thoughts on “Drinkro The Synchro Bartender

  1. LOL that first paragraph… These are the folks who treat their cats like lab-mice and can’t be bothered to scoop their poop (and check it for worms, etc.)… let alone say “hi” to them. Thanks for reminding me why certain people are no longer negligent-robots in my life. And for reminding me that despite my heavy alcohol-intake, I’m surely nowhere near an alcoholic compared to folks like this.

  2. That’s probably the first time I have seen DC motors used with peristaltic pumps. Sure it is a little more accurate than a DC impeller pump but it is far far less accurate than a stepper driven peristaltic pump.

    In any case I am sure the accuracy suites the task and the project is well enjoyed by the testers.

    Now while this probably couldn’t have been done with a 555, the Raspberry Pi is a bit of overkill but it obviously made the software side much easier. This project is probably ore about the software as that seems to be well covered.

    Anyway just getting in before the grammar Nazies ruin the fun so I don’t get 100 emails about where an apostrophe should go.

  3. Guys, GREAT START! I love the concept and I think I understand your aim here. Buzz/viral marketing. There’s two issues here. 1. The robot shouldn’t be an “every man” robot. It should be flashy and high performance and have an insane price tag. 2. You should have a distributor for it for the rich business owners that might want one. You can use that to open the door to pitching your Synchro.io service. 3. Don’t waste your time making it. Contract it out to someone. I know a lot guys who would make a nice bar bot with built in peltier coolers and high power pumps with a reasonable payment structure in case it doesn’t go viral.

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