[mars91] had an interesting problem to solve—his girlfriend often requested Diet Coke, but yelling for one across the apartment was frustrating and impractical. A dedicated Diet Coke button seemed like the perfect solution, so that’s precisely what he built.
The Diet Coke Button is a relatively simple device. A small silver push-button activates an Adafruit Feather M0 to send out a signal via its RFM95 LoRa radio. That signal is picked up by the receiver device, which runs on an ESP32. It’s got an RFM95 LoRa module, which receives signals from the button and sounds an alarm to indicate the request for a Diet Coke. The ESP32 also hosts a basic website which allows Diet Coke requests to be submitted via the web, as well as general submissions of a textual nature. The latter are displayed on a small OLED display. If you’re feeling bold, you can even set up the ESP32 to be accessible from the outside Internet, with [mars91] explaining how to do so using a Cloudflare tunnel for your own protection.
The only problem is that delivering the Diet Coke is still something you have to do by hand. Perhaps a future upgrade would involve some kind of small apartment-spanning railway for the delivery of ice-cold cans to designated stations.
It’s a unique project, and one that recalls us of an interesting talk about a different type of call button.
Special mode for sandwiches:
https://xkcd.com/149/
Air cannon.
Surely a roomba could be programmed and repurposed?
The way ours bumps against walls and furniture, the Diet Coke could be well shook up by the time it reaches the girlfriend.
Sure, a roomba or similar device can be upgraded to a line-following robot. But this is expensive, because you need a roomba (or similar). A simple robot chassis could do the same but is much cheaper.
Unmentioned is the compensation for making the delivery. An unmentionable is the usual rate, is it not?
I’m shocked to see that this isn’t using any kind of IP network and, even more shocking, works without any sort if cloud backend.
You can’t spell “embedded electronics” without “cloud”
Now all he has to do is build something that will address a clearly a dysfunctional relationship.
Seems like it’s functioning just fine to me
Top Gears’s James May had a show where beverages (and other stuff) was delivered by a toy train running on a trail fixed on the wall.
I think that was Man Lab
There’s a restaurant like that somewhere near the Wisconsin Dells.
We have a pancake restaurant here in Germany which delivers beverages via a toy train to the tables. The railroad track is mounted along the wall in perfect height.
He just needs a second one to tell her to bring him a beer.
How big is this apartment that she has to yell? Is she bedridden?
Next to a subway?
I betcha his gf is/was quite capable to come fetch a diet coke herself, but this is just more fun and gives an excuse to build something
Don’t get fooled by the “girlfrient requests”, this is actually a device made for the next tenant of the White House.
Why the lora module though .. both esp’s have ble, or each running ap/cli on the wifi.
Probably something that came out of the partsbin or testing out lpra i reccon …