For anyone who’s ever had to make their own tea, steeping it for the right amount of time can be a pain. That’s precisely the problem that the automatic tea brewing robot solves with its painless approach to brewing tea, built by Slovenian electrical engineering student [Kristjan Berce].
You can use the robot by setting a timer on the knob, at which point the robot raises it arm for the tea bag then dips in the water every 30 seconds until the time has passed. At the end of the timer, the bag is raised clear of the cup to end the brewing. It’s a remarkably simple design that almost evokes chindogu (the Japanese art of useless inventions) if not for the fact that the robot actually serves a useful purpose.
The components for 3D printing the robot are available online, consisting of a case, a container for the Arduino-powered electronics, the lever for holding the tea, and the gear that raises the lever up and down. The device also uses an integrated Li-Ion battery with an accessible charging port and integrated BMS. A 35BYJ46 stepper motor and ULN2003 driver are used to move the 3D printed mechanism. The device uses a potentiometer for setting the steeping time between 1 and 9 minutes, and there’s even a buzzer for indicating once the tea is done brewing.
The Gerber and Arduino code files are open-source for any hackers looking to make their own tea brewers; just take care they operate with “deadly punctuality”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAg2H4LWHeY
(getting the popcorn ready for the “That’s not the right way to make tea!” comments)
First, good tea isn’t sold in tea bags, and large leaves cannot unfold in these small pouches
You forgot to add that all true tea drinkers use 555 timers instead, as tradition has held for thousands of years :P
was waiting for that one <3
Where can I buy one?!
This seems like a task crying out for a mechanical timer. 3D print that, and I’ll give my respect.
I second that! Sometimes, a spring is the best battery.
Yes, I was hoping to see an adaptation of a twist kitchen timer, perhaps that only lifts the bag out at the end when the bell rings, or would have done. :-)
I actually do this with an old wind-up darkroom timer I got at a flea market. The dial on the front of the timer sets the time, and lowering the lever starts the timer as well as primes the spring for the ringer. This lever then raises when the time is up; firmly enough to lift the bag but gently enough not to splash. The only “modification” I had to do was sit the timer on a block so the lever would clear the top of my mug. Definitely one of my better flea market purchases!
Search: penguin tea timer
Why automate everything?
We are forgetting what we are capable of and we are thinking we need lots of gadgets to live %3.3234 quicker…
Personally I enjoy spending hours/days to automate things which might only take me a few minutes to do. The fun is in the designing and building, rather than in the time saved.
Agreed. It’s all about the journey and what you learn along the way. We humans do a great number of things that are completely unnecessary, usually for entertainment or relative comfort. I use ESP8266 based devices to collect temperature, humidity and various other data from places around the house into InfluxDB solely because I find data interesting (sometimes useful). I may eventually use the data to automate something. All the useless things we do, we learn something from, and one day we may need to rely on those “pointless” hours of experience for something that is actually important.
tldr: Life is short, have fun, never stop learning. :)
We own a coffee/tea shop. I’m going to make a dozen of these for customers to use at their tables.
Instead of an Arduino, use an ESP32.
That way you can get a signal if the customer takes it out of WiFi range.
B^)