While I wait for the laser cutter I’ve been planning for the future. I’ve got my next five new robots mapped out and since I’ve got the time I’ve started on the first one, a drink mixing robot called MixologyBot. Version one will only do spirits. Version two will add sodas and syrups. Version three builds on the technology of several other robots I have in the pipeline.

I used my sketchbook to draw out several versions of the robot. I’m basing my design heavily on the the Inebriator. Check out this video of their latest in action.

Their assembly is complex, heavy, hard to ship, and gets electronics near the liquids. Also their interface is u-g-l-y. …but those are my only complaints! Their method of moving the drink under the bottles is brilliant and I’m copying the heck out of it. They also have a special nozzle that only dispenses 0.5oz each time it is pressed, making it easy for a robot to measure out drinks. Perfect! I love it.

I spent a couple hours letting my fingers do the walking, calling up local bar supply companies. Only one had 1oz nozzles in stock, the rest offered to order them in at 4x the price. No, thanks!

Once I secured the nozzles and the electronics I started to create a prototype frame from cardboard. Here’s my first draft.

I also got a Raspberry Pi for the first time. I’ve attended RPI night at the VHS, met the original designer, and watched my friends buy them…but until now I didn’t see a point. I’m finally warming to RPI. I’ve installed the NOOBS image and built a LAMP stack so that my robot can offer up a web page. That’s right – you’ll be able to order your drinks from your phone, or plug in a keyboard & mouse to set up the machine as a POS system. I can just imagine some enterprising person combining this with a Square account to take payments on the same phone they use to place orders. So portable!

I used the “sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 php5-mysql” command to get the default stack running. It took me longer to get the powered USB hub for the mouse and keyboard than it did to build a web server!

Here’s one of my favorite parts: You tell the robot which alcohol you loaded. Then the robot uses it’s cocktail database and automatically offers only the valid combinations. It knows how to make a gin & tonic but it won’t offer if there’s no gin.

I’ve already got a few marketing ideas planned. When you order a mixing robot the packing insulation will be cocktail napkins with marginallyclever.com written on them. There will also be a spot on every robot where you are encouraged to draw the pub sign for your machine. By customizing them and registering them on the official website (coming soon) you’ll be able to protect your investment and we promote each other at the same time. This will also be the first robot I make that can automatically update itself when there’s a software upgrade or more drinks are added to the database. If you’re one of the many people who offered to help with a Kickstarter, I’m sure your brain is now boiling with stretch goal possibilities.

Now that I’ve talked about my strengths and opportunities, let’s look at where I’m going to have to work.

If I’ve got any concern right now it’s cleanliness. Anyone who’s seen my office or how I operate knows that I have to stay extremely well organized and that means clean, clean, clean. I want the drink robot to follow the same philosophy – make the minimum mess and be easy to sanitize. I’ve planned all the expensive electronics to be far from the liquids and the bottom is so spills don’t pool in the machine. I don’t have a cable running in the middle of my drink machine like the Inebriator, either.

I’m very ignorant about mixology. I’d like to build a database of drinks that can be expanded on later, maybe even crowdsourced. Are you savvy to the bevvy? Are you mayor of SQL town? Take a look at what I’ve got. These are my tables so far.

[code]

mysql> describe ingredients;

+————-+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+————-+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |

| name | varchar(64) | YES | | NULL | |

| description | text | YES | | NULL | |

| loaded_now | enum(‘Yes’,’No’) | NO | | No | |

| pos_x | int(10) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |

| pos_y | int(10) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |

+————-+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

mysql> describe drinks;

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |

| name | varchar(64) | NO | | NULL | |

| description | text | YES | | NULL | |

| glass_size_oz | float | NO | | 0 | |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

mysql> describe drink_ingredients;

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |

| drink_id | int(10) unsigned | NO | | NULL | |

| ingredient_id | int(10) unsigned | NO | | NULL | |

| qty_oz | float | NO | | 0 | |

| pour_order | int(11) | NO | | 0 | |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

mysql> describe loaded_ingredients;

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

| id | int(10) unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment |

| ingredient_id | int(10) unsigned | YES | | NULL | |

| pos_x | int(10) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |

| pos_y | int(10) unsigned | NO | | 0 | |

+—————+——————+——+—–+———+—————-+

[/code]

If you have any comments, ideas, or you rage at my lack of foreign keys, comment below! I’m looking to partner with people to make this the best Marginally Clever robot yet. If you feel you can contribute, drop me a line.