[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/
I don’t even need to click through 😁
$ sudo -S -u CJay /usr/local/bin/click –through
Well, I guess now you (su)do!
Now, that’s what happens when you cross nerd jokes and dad jokes…
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.
Is that a problem… Seems like a bonus.
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”
Radio frequency transmission eliminates the middle man. LoRa does have a protocol, I believe, not just pure bit banging. It’s cool stuff.
Russian cosmonauts solved this problem with a ringy-dingy bell.
I’d move the refrigerator…
Pressing the call button triggers the systems of the fridge-a-vator* to move to the location of the call device, and upon door closure following selection of said beverage or sandwich, the fridge-a-vator* returns to the pre-selected default location…. (patent and trademark pending)…
I’m shocked not one person knows what this is a reference to. Hint… political in nature.
You mean this?
https://www.breitbart.com/pre-viral/2024/12/27/trumps-diet-coke-button-to-return-on-his-first-day-back-in-the-white-house/
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
100% agreed, TG.
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.
Buffalo Phil’s!
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.
Right next to the nuclear button.
Something already portrayed by Genesis in their “Land of confusion” videoclip… but in a different way :-D
I’m surprised that’s the first comment to mention that lol
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 …
The regular consumption of carbonated drinks, even without sugar, is associated with a reduced lifespan. If you think about the dynamics of the scenario described in the article you can see one reason why, and no I am not talking about the lethality of a thrown can of beverage.
Maybe they don’t believe in divorce, and are trying a different approach 😁
Bet you’re fun at parties.
Hmmm… You fell for the correlation and causation logical fallacy. People who drink diet sodas have a shorter lifespan, so it’s the fault of the soda, right? Or… Hear me out… maybe it’s because diet sodas are often consumed by people who are overweight and/or have diabetes, two groups with an already shorter life span. Please leave the science to the scientists.
Any particular reason that gf can’t get off her arse and get her own drink? I can just hear the outrage now if roles were reversed and gf was building a device so that bf didn’t have to “yell for her to fetch him a beer.”
It’s an excuse for a project.
I mean, a simple desk bell could have done it too…
But where the fun in that?
Maybe diet Coke is a euphemism.
Must be, because that is a Coke Zero can in the picture.
Meh. A better hack would be to put a flash chiller into each room, along with a box of Coke cans. Then it could also be used for his beer.
A carbon dioxide fire extinguisher can be used as a flash chiller.
Phase 2: A pneumatic tube beverage delivery system!
https://youtu.be/-hzM8IJnb2M?si=z3R62BTCTYUFt9ca
Reading the description, and all I can think of is “Doorbell”.
Basically, there is evidence that artificial sweeteners can change the gut microbiome somehow leading to metabolic syndrome which then causes weight gain.
One of the studies I’ve read simplified: in one set of mice metabolic syndrome was induced via large amounts of artificial sweeteners – another set of normal mice had their gut microbiome sterilized away and they then received fecal transplants from the metabolic syndrome mice – they immediately had metabolic syndrome.
So, drink or eat artificially sweetened stuff and maybe get fat or fatter. Don’t hear anything about that from the “diet” stuff pushers, do you? No need to wonder why.
Just two of many studies I include at random saying the same thing. I include only one link since there may be a one-link limit to posts here.
Artificial sweeteners produce the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements
2013
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3772345/
Abstract
The negative impact of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages on weight and other health outcomes has been increasingly recognized; therefore, many people have turned to high-intensity sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin as a way to reduce the risk of these consequences. However, accumulating evidence suggests that frequent consumers of these sugar substitutes may also be at increased risk of excessive weight gain, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This paper discusses these findings and considers the hypothesis that consuming sweet-tasting but noncaloric or reduced-calorie food and beverages interferes with learned responses that normally contribute to glucose and energy homeostasis. Because of this interference, frequent consumption of high-intensity sweeteners may have the counterintuitive effect of inducing metabolic derangements.
Artificial sweetener is a growing threat for metabolic syndrome: why is extra attention required?
2023
That might have mattered in the past, but with the Apocalypse coming very soon we might as well party like there will be no tomorrow. It has been working for me, anyway.
No, there is no human evidence that reasonable amounts of artificial sweeteners have any effect on the gut microbiome. You know what has bee proven to, though? Sugar. As said above, leave the science to the scientists.
Most if not all people I know that drink Diet Cokes are ruthlessly addicted to it (the sweeteners themselves are addicting I guess in addition to the caffeine) and are also jerks about it or skew towards a-holism in general. Fun projects aside the general personality trait of asking someone to do something for you that you could darn well do yourself is pretty off-putting. Your mileage may vary.
A vending machine and a pneumatic tube system like they have in hospitals would be cool
A more rudimentary solution is to throw the old empty container at the spouse’s head in order to signal the need for a new one. OR maybe she could get her lazy rear up and get it herself. Put the toilet seat back up and make me a sandwich while you up, woman! :P