Planet Arduino

You’d be hard pressed to find an IT back office that doesn’t have a few Cisco routers or switches laying around and collecting dust. We’d even bet there are a decent number of people reading this post right now that have a stack of them within arm’s reach. They’re the kind of thing most of us have no practical application for, but we still can’t bear to throw away. But it looks like [Sven Tantau] has found an ideal middle ground: rather than junk his Cisco Catalyst switches, he turned them into automatic bartenders.

Inspired by all those perfect little square openings on the front, [Sven] loaded each switch with a whopping 24 peristaltic pumps, one for each Ethernet port. To fit all his plumbing inside, the switches were naturally gutted to the point of being hollow shells of their former selves, although he does mention that their original power supplies proved useful for keeping two dozen power-hungry motors well fed.

The motors are connected to banks of relays, which in turn are thrown by an ESP32 and an Arduino Nano. [Sven] explains that he wasn’t sure if the ESP32 could fire off the relays with its 3 V output, so he decided to just use an Arduino which he already knew could handle the task. The two microcontrollers work in conjunction, with a web interface on the ESP32 ultimately sending I2C commands to the Arduino when it’s time to get the pumps spinning.

[Sven] mentions his robotic bartenders were a hit at the 2019 Chaos Communication Camp, where we know for a fact the computer-controlled alcohol was flowing freely. Of course, if you don’t intend on carrying your barbot around to hacker camps, you can afford to make it look a bit swankier.

A few months ago we showed you a bar bot built by [GreatScott] that uses peristaltic pumps to food-safely move the various spirits and mixers around behind the curtain. The bar bot uses three of them, and at $30 each for pumps with decent flow rate, they added a lot to the parts bill. These pumps are pretty much the ideal choice for a bar bot, so what do you do? [GreatScott] decided to see if it was worth it to make them instead.

Peristaltic pumps are simple devices that pump liquids without touching them. A motor turns a set of rollers that push a flexible tube against a wall. As the motor turns, the rollers move liquid through the tube by squeezing it flat from the outside in turns. Typically, the more you pay for an off-the-shelf peristaltic, the higher the flow rate.

[GreatScott] figured it was cheaper to buy the motor and the control circuitry. He chose a NEMA-17 for their reputation and ubiquity and a DRV8825 controller to go with it. The pump is driven by an Arduino Nano and a pot controls the RPM. After trying to design the mechanical assembly from scratch, he found [Ralf]’s pump model on Thingiverse and modified it to fit a NEMA-17.

The verdict? DIY all the way, assuming you can print the parts. [GreatScott] was trying to beat the purchased pumps’ flow rate of 100mL/minute and ended up with 200mL/minute from his DIY pump. Squeeze past the break for the build video and demonstration.

Is there a bar bot build on your list? No? Is it because you’re more of a single-malt scotch guy? Build a peristaltic pachyderm to pour your potion.

Combining an Android app with some fluid pumps, an infinity mirror, and a whole lot of booze — let us introduce BarT — the Automated Bartender.

It’s the work of [dosko27] for his senior design project in Electrical Engineering. It’s an automated and wireless drink mixology system. Since it’s for school, the demonstration video doesn’t have any “hard drinks” but the ingredients (up to sixteen) are completely up to you.

He started off with the case. It’s your standard infinity mirror build, a mirror, a 1-way mirror, and some programmable RGB LEDs. We covered a great build tutorial on how to make your own a few years ago. Unlike most automated bar units, [dosko27] opted for a simple, yet elegant design hiding all the electronics. One small LCD to name your drink, and one small spot to stick your cup.

He designed a custom PCB bank of solenoid drivers to control the valves on each ingredient. The trickiest (and most expensive) part with most of these builds is a pump for every ingredient — so instead, he’s using a CO2 supply to pressurize the bottles. This cuts the cost of the build, although you will have to supply CO2 now.

For more great barbot builds, check out the Roboxotica festival in Vienna for some inspiration for your next robotic bartender build!

In order to get a margarita just right, the various ingredients need to be mixed together quite vigorously to over-come the different viscosity of the fluids. Looking to create his own barbot of sorts, [TVMiller] decided to make a Margarita Drip Infuser to help make margaritas a bit easier.

Using various chem lab supplies, [TVMiller] has cobbled together something pretty awesome. The Infuser can take up to 8 different ingredients into its test tube reserves, and after the drink ingredients are programmed on the computer, the magic begins.

An Arduino Uno controls a bank of 8 relays which control small fluid solenoids, with each control pulse releasing just a single droplet of fluid. An LED for each valve is run in parallel adding a bit of a light show to the mixing experience. If that’s not enough, he’s also created a copper cooling coil to chill the drink as it is poured.

For a slightly more advanced build, check out the Inebriatior.

Ever feel the need to have your very own alcohol vending machine at home? Well if you do, [Ben] and [Dan] have just the Arduino based machine for you!

It was actually part of a school assignment for product design at Brunel University – the whole thing was designed and built in just over a week. The machine accepts and counts coins giving you a total readout on the LCD screen. When the correct amount is inserted you can select your shot and the machine will pour you a stiff one.

The thing we like about this vending machine — we’re not sure if it actually qualifies as a barbot — is that it doesn’t have any fancy pumps. In fact, it just uses two inexpensive solenoid valves and gravity to dispense the drink, much like a typical bar bottle dispenser.

It sounds like they’re considering commercializing it, but we can see quite a few problems with a machine that will accept coins from anyone and pour out a drink.

[via HackedGadgets]

It’s been a rough day at the office. You need a break. But by yourself? No, what you need is to be Synergized! This Barbot only works if all four keys are inserted and turned — kind of like a nuclear launch procedure — only then will it dispense four perfectly sized drinks to make your day better.

The Synergizer uses an Arduino to control a belt driven linear actuator which moves the spout from cup to cup. A series of reed switches along the length provide feedback to the system for positional control. The machine makes use of a peristaltic pump, called the Bartendro Dispenser, which pumps an exact volume of your liquid of choice into each cup. The cool thing with peristaltic pumps is they are self priming,and capable of pumping an exact volume of liquid every time.

[Nick Poole], the designer, also included a CPU fan and heat-sink paired up with a peltier plate in order to also chill the liquid as it is being pumped. To make it even more interesting, he added a four key override, so the Synergizer can only be used if all four unique keys are inserted.

For a multi-liquid barbot, you have to check out this slick build by [Sean Carney] — it even has web access for control via any device!