When we first heard the parts list for this project, we weren’t too impressed. It has an iPhone connecting to an IObridge etc… But then we heard the next, and most important part, an air cannon and an assortment of beer. We were sold. As you can see in the video after the break, a fancy iPhone interface lets you select your beer, then dispense it into the cannon for delivery. The next step is to aim using a web cam mounted at the cannon and let ‘er rip! The beer is fired across the room and into your hands. We suspect that the amount of cranial injury, holes in the drywall, and shattered glass will greatly increase in frequency as the night goes on. Awesome.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVyLuosZ1rY&w=470]
That’s great, except for the beer selection.
Epic !!! Nothing like a beer can shot at your head to wake you up! lol
Illiad of UserFriendly already thought of this once. It did not end very well…
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070319, and continues at http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070403
Nevertheless, epic idea to implement.
Whoa, cool! As an undergrad, I can say that this is the best invention ever.
Include a delay between pushing the fire button and actual launch, maybe a 3-2-1 countdown so you don’t get hit in the top of the head while you are still looking at the iphone.
I was thinking a longer delay between sending “FIRE” and actually firing the can, say 3-5 seconds, perhaps with a buzzer during the countdown.
Nothing like being bonked on the head like a certain softball coach I was just watching (“Maximum Overdrive”).
This is an epic invention. Just needs a few tweaks.
1) Controllable launch power (for farther shots, shorter, etc)
2) “Favorites” – eg launch X type at Y position in a single click.
3) A DELAY, probably one that slowly increases as more cans are dispensed.
I think a laser sight+cheap rang-finder to calculate loss of altitude could remove the need to aim it via webcam.
Ckyzincs-foooaaaaammmmmm all over.
Get to drink half.
Besides real beer brewed locally don’t come in cans. Growler cannon with sabot protection yeah.
Why his this YouTube video in 1080p?
God damn it I love it when people build machines to deliver beer.
Most dorms use walls made out of much stronger material than drywall for exactly this reason
So how does the launcher work? There are no details given. Most info is on the youtube page for the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVyLuosZ1rY#t=66s
What about using Kinect to detect the position of target?
It looks like he is controlling it through a website. If only we could find the site, imagine the mayhem and fun we could have launching his beers all over the place lol.
Please change video size from 640×390 to 470×294. Everywhere.
Sounds like a way to practice ‘spear the beer’ when you do not have a friend handy…
He needs to lose the iPhone in v2.0. Get a dedicated remote for the fridge and have it track the remote and auto-calculate where to fire. Perhaps a cheap 27mHz crystal set from a r/c car and some triangulation stations in the room. Or bluetooth if he’s already got the parts.
A cool mod would be to have it auto-aim based on IR signature.
nice
ahh that is money. love it.