[Logi.cals], a German software company focused on process, automation, and facilities planning has devised an automated wine decanting machine to demonstrate its logi.CAD 3 PLC programming tool. Sommeliers use these simple machines to handle heavy, expensive bottles of wine. [Logi.cals] added sensors and a stepper motor to a very nice looking specimen and automated the decanting process with a Raspberry Pi.
The outstanding feature of this design is the built-in redundancy. A pair of micro switches detect the presence of both a bottle and a glass. Failing these, a load cell is there to weigh the bottle, reporting naturally whether one is present. The load cell also plays a part in monitoring the liquid level in the bottle, as do capacitive sensors that register the wine flow. The design also includes strain gauges that measure the weight in the glass as well as the liquid level. To bring it full circle, they also verify that a glass is present.
[Logi.cals] used two expansion boards, the Quick2Wire interface with an I²C analogue board and the PiFace. The I²C analogue board takes information from the strain gauges over its ADC, and the Quick2Wire communicates with the load cell’s measurement amplifier over the serial connection. The PiFace handles the remaining sensors and the stepper motor, and provides high voltage protection for the Pi.
If you’re fresh out of heavy, expensive bottles of wine but have some cheap ones lying around, you could use a Pi to make them dance.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snE1DnTyp8w]
[via adafruit]
Neat machine but I would never want to work in Germany. Their language scares me (I almost get visions of hitler screaming at me). Polish is so much nicer to speak. Also, Białystok, delicious śledzie and ogórki kiszone.
Really? I mean, German is not the most beautiful language in the world, but to favour polish? Oh well, different people, different choices – let’s drink to that! :)
…and a LOT of ksenophobia fellow mate.
So, basically the expensive logi.CAD 3 PLC programming tool isn’t required at all? Just use a $35 Pi?
Yeah but that’s not much of an advertisement for a company that sells expensive logi.CAD 3 PLC tools tho is it? Actually it’s a bit of a letdown, “we sell these expensive controllers, but they couldn’t manage this so we spent $35 on a Pi instead”. Sure a clever marketing type will sneakily glue a PLC on somewhere before it does the rounds.
I dunno how connoisseurs would react to having their wine poured over filthy capacitors like that. I’m sure the metal would upset the microscopic bubbles, or the tannins, or something.
Thank you for actually using the superscript 2 and not just typing “I2C”
” Sommeliers use these simple machines to handle heavy, expensive bottles of wine.”
That is just oh so sad and pathetic.
Look at the girly man, he can’t pour a bottle of wine without a robot to help (best if read in your best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice).
Double the action!
If the wine is expensive enough to involve a sommelier, then it should be poured by scantily dressed, attractive, male/female – according to preferences.
If it has to be a robot, then the terminator from T3, well *I* would pay for that!
Three words: seven of nine
Can it be modified to accept wine that comes in a cardboard box with a tap on the front?
As a customer interested in a glass of expensive wine, I don’t think I’d be too impressed with all the whirring and squeaking of the machine.