Bar2d2 Gets Automated

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcC3QazHyg]

When we showed you Bar2d2, the bar tending party bot, there was one huge hurdle left to solve. It was only a drink dispenser at that, while awesome, couldn’t actually mix drinks. That has been remedied in this update. Now, a computer handles all of the drink orders, then sends them via bluetooth to bar2d2. The drinks are mixed right there in front of you in the comforting blue glow of bar2d2’s neon. You can check out more build pictures here.

24 thoughts on “Bar2d2 Gets Automated

  1. I thought I saw something like this several years ago on TechTV. Some college students converted a fridge into a drink mixing machine. Best part was that it had a touch screen interface to search through the recipes and the ability to alter the ingredient ratios. Plus, all the alcohol was stored in the fridge itself.

  2. Thanks for the compliments! As for the software, it will allow you to change ratios on recipes and even save them. You can also make up your own and add them. Jay Lueck did a great job writing the software. Touch screen is definitely on the radar as well as operation from a pda or other handheld. Stay tuned for the holographic breathalyzer!

  3. While I appreciate the amount of work that has gone into it, I have 2 issues…

    1. All the drinks share a communal diverter. That means residue from your last drink will probably be in your next drink. Not so much an issue with mixed drinks, but say you wanted a double vodka, neat and you had a high appreciation for vodka….

    2. It isn’t really a mixer, it’s more of a “pourer”.

  4. 1. A double vodka neat? I don’t plan on taking this robot to the Moose Lodge :) This is designed for stuff that I would drink. This probably isn’t for the double barrel crowd.

    2. As for the mixer, I have to leave something for the drinker to do :) Although, I have considered putting a little shaker under the drink spot.

    jamie

  5. You could add a magnetic stirrer like you sometimes see in chem labs (a little teflon coated magnet in the glass stirred by a a spinning magnet somewhere underneath) or have a module for premixing before it is dispensed into the glass.

    Also, as far as cleaning the tip goes, it seems to me that that would be as easy as adding water as one of the dispensation possibilities. Assuming, anyway that you have some sort of catch underneath for spillover (which may not be a bad idea anyway).

  6. so, you guys gonna get out of the prototype world and start manufacturing these on a mass level or what? i’ve seen variations of these for years generally coming from the dorm rooms of engineers in college…but i have yet to see anyone properly take this beyond the dorm room — you would think this could be an essential piece of hardware in bars/restaurants/etc., especially now that so many of these venues would be able to better stay afloat in these hard times with an automated bartender who doesn’t require pay, breaks, sleep, etc. (and doesn’t pour free doubles for friends n pretty girls)

    this is a practical product — you guys should step up and start marketing and mass production before someone else does…get an investor(s) and move your workshop out of your garage into a real prod. plant!

    good stuff n good luck

  7. @supershwa:

    You could never substitute this for an actual person, because actual bartenders have legal duties (cutting people off when they are drunk, making sure people are 21+, making sure people 21+ aren’t buying for people not 21+, etc.) which are responsibilities a machine could not assume. Not to mention the more general pitfalls of hosting partakers of alcohol without a paid supervisor.

  8. I had considered the magnetic stirer, but stayed away from it because you either have to fish it out of the glass, or make sure someone doesn’t drink it.

    As for having it pre-mix before it hits the glass, it could probably be done. I have been just giving people little stir straws.

    jamie

  9. Is there a technical limitation that prevents you from dispensing all of the liquids at once?

    If you only have to dispense 1oz of component A, and 3oz of component B, you could turn the component A valve on/off while B dispenses, and get a good approximation of mixing.

  10. as for dispensing them all at once, I guess it could be done in the code that Jay wrote…BUT, half of the cool factor is watching the thing work. Keep in mind that if I wanted to build a saleable version of something like this, it would be built very different. This one was built to mount to BaR2 and be highly mobile and fun at .con parties and have that “holy sh*t” factor when you roll in.

  11. Any part numbers or anything on the valves? I’d hate to try to undercut Jay/Lazydrinker, but this kit has been the same for almost 3 years now and the price/design hasn’t changed much from what I can tell. I’d like to adapt the idea with an Arduino or two, but wouldn’t know which valves to get to make it work properly. Everything else seems pretty straight forward.

  12. I’m waiting for the hack that combines a 3D printer underneath that creates the vessel into which the drink is poured…

    “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”

    This is hot, very hot. Love it!

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