Technology offers many solutions to man’s first world plights, including the inability to make a decent drink. The Bartendro is a precision cocktail dispensing robot which allows users to mix cocktails of varying complexities through commands issued with their smartphones or tablets.
The Bartendro setup.
The device is modular, open source, as well as light and portable, allowing it to be carried to different social gatherings.
How it works
The Bartendro has no moving parts; it uses a peristaltic pump combined with custom electronics to dispense a measured volume of liquid with each motor revolution. These “dispenser boards” use an Arduino chip's processor connected to a “router board” carrying a Raspberry PI computer (RPI).
Next, the RPI establishes a wireless access point and broadcasts a Wi-Fi signal for you to anchor your wireless device and order a drink.
A look at the Bartendro’s dispenser board.
Technology makes it simple
Selecting the cocktail is easy given the network automatically redirects your smartphone or tablet's browser to a customizable menu from where to select a drink. Additionally, an administrative screen allows the configuring of drink recipes, ingredients, as well as managing the dispensers. Outside of preparing the robot with the proper beverages, you must manually add the ice, and fetch the drink yourself ― you can't have everything now.
Easy maintenance
Other than avoiding a spill on the electric components, the only maintenance required of you is cleaning the tubes. Simply run warm soapy water a few times through the tubes, followed by a quick rinse with just water and the tubes will be good to go.
Endless possibilities
The open source software and hardware enables users to design their own uses for the Bartendro outside of its intended purpose. You can set it to make coffee concoctions instead of cocktails, attach a credit reader to verify the age of your guests, or perhaps attach it to a Roomba to make a mobile cocktail station with collision detection technology. In my opinion, this is the best feature of the robot, granting it extended longevity, since it has uses outside of making you lazy and alcohol dependant.
Four different types of robots
The Bartendro's kickstarter campaign has been extremely successful, having well surpassed its $135,000 goal. Once the Bartendro hits the market, there will be four models available: The Shobot with one dispenser, Bartendro 3 with three dispensers, Bartendro 7 with seven dispensers, and the Bartendro 15 with a monumental fifteen dispensers.
The design team assures us that the Bartendro will be affordable. For that reason, many of the components were designed in-house to avoid relying on otherwise expensive industrial and medical grade equipment.
Check out the Bartendro Kickstarter campaign to learn more.
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