Rolling out of bed and grabbing a morning coffee is a pretty important routine in many households. Naturally, it only makes sense to tinker with the machine which provides you with you caffeine fix. But why hack it into oblivion when you could just create a simple assistant, like R2-D2?

Instructables user "iminthebathroom" created the R2-D2 Dark Roast Edition to have something big and quick enough to pour coffee for large groups of guests. This R2-D2 project also talks when in use and lights up. It's made from an industrial-sized coffee maker--a BUNN coffee maker--and a number of recycled materials and metals to shape the Star Wars caffeine companion.

To get the DIY R20D2 talking, iminthebathroom used the motor from a talking greeting card, and LEDs from old phone chargers and gadgets for lights. A gutted greetings card microcontroller and speaker allowed iminthebathroom to record the R2-D2 sounds without plunking down cash for an Arduino board--it's just a case of knowing which wires to cross to record your message (hint: green to record, black to confirm). Meanwhile, the main R2 "eye" works essentially like a standby light.

After stripping down the Bunn coffee tank, iminthebathroom worked to customize the tank to make it look more like R2-D2. Considering this whole thing is made out of recycled materials and other bits and pieces, it's pretty impressive. If you want to copy such a mod, it seems the main rule is just to get creative with materials you have lying around your home (perhaps that box of wires and other miscellaneous gadgetry will come in useful!).

However, the main importance here is how the coffee tastes, so get pouring, R2! Watch it in action below or check out iminthebathroom's wordy guide on Instructables.

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[Instructables]

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