Slashdot Mirror
Linux-Based Bar-Monkey
An anonymous reader writes "The Bar-Monkey is a bar built around a 486 running linux that can dispense an 8 ounce mixed drink in under 10 seconds. It uses a Matrix Orbital Serial LCD panel with a keypad built into the bar surface for user input. Three Harvey Mudd College students built the bar in their spare time last semester. The bar holds 16 ingredients with which it can currently mix 188 drinks stored in its drink database. Total project cost: $235."
Boris Vian fans will remember this jazz piano which was modified to create such drinks... :-)
Hey, in this time, nerds use to do jazz
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Pfff, they did this in Short Circuit way back in the 80's.
And THOSE things had lasers, fix you right, mate!
Hell, it's even cheaper than some versions of Windows, and it pours liquor!
---
When I grow up, I want to be a kid again.
a beowlfu clstr of theeeeeeeeeeesse
*hic*
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
Dispenses 16 bottles of liquor for $235? Even if the hardware was free, I don't think I'd be drinking anything that came out of this "monkey."
Wondeful.
We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
what a breakthrough :D finally, something we all can use.
looks like the bar is smoking...
this was the very first slashdotted bartender...
"You want some more?"
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Apparently the Bar Monkey is serving Harvey Mudd's web site as well...
All Your Memory Are Belong To Java
"Barmonkey.."
bleep bloop
"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot."
Trolling is a art,
Coupled with the latest study on alcohol and the heart, it looks like we can now officially say that Linux is good for your health!
GreyPoopon
--
Why is it I can write insightful comments but can't come up with a clever signature?
This is actually a very interesting idea. Although its cool that its being done on Linux, it doesnt mean that it couldnt be done on Windows. But its still a cool concept. Ill probally end up building one for myself since I cant mix drinks to save my life.
Can it make a Flaming Homer..
"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb." Dark Helmet - Spaceballs
heh maybe they were using apache on the linux monkey as the web server. /. shut down the bar and crashed the party :(
---
When I grow up, I want to be a kid again.
Does it require a designated driver?
Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
Currently has 30 registered user accounts, with expected rapid growth as people cease being broke.
This part is also right before the CounterCentral number of 860... there is certainly going to be rapid growth in traffic as well as interest.
Oh, and are there enough people out there who will "cease being broke"... the inverse of which now also happens to be the state of their site!
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
I didn't see ice being dispensed. How about a Lego robotic arm to grab a couple cubes and toss them in the glass!
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
Bahaha that was a great scene.
For those of you who missed the reference, it's from the highly underrated Fifth Element. This guy is pouring out his heart to a bartender, and asks if he knows what he means.
Camera angle cuts over and the bartender's a robot. It shakes it's head no and askes "You want some more?", which is funny since that's pretty much the reaction I've gotten from human bartenders the two or three times I've gone to drown serious sorrows.
Using an unreliable battery-operated device to replace a pad and paper to store names and addresses? Nope.
Making our lives miserable and giving us the attention span of hyperactive gnats by making us always available for harassment via telemarketers, pages, e-mails, and instant messages? Nope.
Giving us carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis just to move a cursor around the screen or pilot Mario around? Nah.
Making it so our kids can't use a paper library or fix their own spelling errors? No way...
Making it so the documents and esigns we spend our lives writing and creating have a recoverable life span less than a tenth that of the lowest-grade _paper_ available? Not even close...
Mixing a perfect gin and tonic? Now THAT'S technology!!!
it doesn't have a web server built in then we could /. it and keep people from getting there drinks. Maybe a fight would break out and spread to the street. A few bystanders get involved and we have the first /riot.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
Right, let's get some of these out of the way
- Can it mix a flaming Homer?
- To add a new drink do you need to recompile the kernal
- Can you get KPeanuts?
- It'd do it in 9 seconds if it ran Gnome
- To get ice do you have to type MixScotch -ice
- Ah, but will it listen to how bad your day was. "Barmonkey? yeah Windows 98 crashed again"
Hmm, that's probably all of the non technical posts for this story.
Does it know how to mix a Slashdotting, on the rocks?
... Does that include the drinks?
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Wasn't that the guy Captain Kirk condemned to live w/a bunch of robot replicas of his wife?
.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Anyone has a mirror? Monkey is already dead :(
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
TEN Seconds? For crying out loud! That is an eternity when my glass is empty! Human bartenders are much quicker, well after I get them properly trained.
Then again, this thing might be a lot faster with draft Fosters only, rather than having all of thos other confusing ingrediants mucking things up.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
16^2-16 = 240. Where'd the rest of them go? :-)
Now imagine if you will, a Linux powered lunch counter cook...
Man: Well, what've you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam;
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam...
Oh, wait, it's already been predicted. Nevermind.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The Bar Monkey
Designed and Implemented by Steven Avery, Dustin Cooper, and Brad Greer
of Harvey Mudd College
The Bar Monkey, simply put, is a vending machine that serves mixed drinks. It houses 16 reservoirs which currently contain the following ingredients:
* Vodka
* Rum
* Tequila
* Whiskey
* Gin
* Amaretto
* Triple Sec
* Kahlua (or coffee liqueur)
* Midori (or melon liqueur)
* Orange Juice
* Pineapple Juice
* Cranberry Juice
* Sour Mix
* Cola*
* Tonic*
* Grenadine*
*Ingredients currently under consideration for replacement
Using these 16 ingredients, a total of 188 different drinks can be made, with the included ability to add ounce increments of each ingredient to customize (or create) a drink. The drink database is easy to update and nearly infinitely expandable.
Customers sign up for a user account, for which they are assigned a unique, 5-digit, hexadecimal PIN. The account is debit-based, with each drink charging the customer at cost for the drink they are purchasing, automatically deducting from their account balance.
All told, the project took about 3 months and $235 to complete. It is worth mentioning, however, that the LCD (the most expensive single component) was donated (approx. value: $100+), and various other components were otherwise acquired for free. The Bar Monkey was graciously funded by West Dorm HMC, even though we were overbudget by $85. Continual maintenance and occasional improvements are still always a concern.
Some Pictures:
Beta Testing
Here's the cabinet when it was just a few shelves holding empty 2-liter bottles. One pump is hooked up to the computer for the purpose of taking time-constant data.
Soldering I
Having collected the time-constant data, Steve and Brad dutifully solder half-inch jumpers to each of the 4 leads on each of the 16 relays. Neither of us knows, to this day, why we did this outside.
Soldering II
Closeup of the meticulous but tedious jumper-soldering process.
Bartop Under Construction
The unfinished bartop, with various tools, containers, and other helpful things strewn across it in the midst of hard work.
The Monkey's Central Nervous System
The finished relay board, connected to the computer via parallel ports. The computer is running the Bar Monkey program, which displays the drink code prompt on the LCD.
LCD and Keypad Closeup
The above-mentioned drink prompt, but closer.
Behind the Scenes of the Relay Board
It looks really nice and neat on top, but the relay board was quite possibly the most difficult part of the entire project. What you see here are 16 relays, 16 diodes, 16 resistors, 16 transistors, and approximately 70 small segments of wire (not counting the 64 jumpers).
Inside the Finished Product I (shown above)
Pretty self-explanatory. The pumps and their respective reservoirs in place, the computer and relay board safely tucked on a shelf, the LCD behind a half-inch of acrylic, and all the tubes pulled through the PVC dispenser neck.
Inside the Finished Product II
Same as above, but from a different angle.
Electronics Closeup
The LCD, with extension cable to the keypad and serial cable to the computer, is at the top right. The bottom of the computer is unimpressive, though dominant in the frame, and the relay board is seen off to the side.
Outside the Finished Product
Here we see the Bar Monkey as customers see it, complete with Dustin's excellent stencil design and the nozzle, which is removable for cleaning.
The Finished Bartop
The top of the Bar Monkey, covered in rugged black plastic with a viewing window for the LCD.
Finished LCD and Keypad Closeup
It still looks pretty much the way it did when it was unfinished, only now it isn't just laying on the floor.
Drink Confirmation
The true beginning of the customer's experience with the Bar Monkey.
Technical Specs:
* Runs a program written in C by Dustin Cooper, in Linux.
* Bartop is approximately four feet above the ground.
* Holds approximately 1.75 liters of each ingredient.
* Uses 16 windshield washer pumps run by a 12V adaptor. Pumps are connected in parallel and run sequentially by the program.
* Dispenses an 8 oz. mixed drink in less than 10 seconds.
* Currently has 30 registered user accounts, with expected rapid growth as people cease being broke.
CounterCentral hit counters
Since 10:00 PM EST on Jan 7, 2003
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Geeky modern art T-shirts
Isn't that the academic institution where all the teachers are androids who wear a necklace with the course number they teach on it (and otherwise almost tend to look like each other)?
And didn't I hear the headmaster android was named Stella?
Or was all that something in a dream I had last night?
If you beowulf them do you get an AA meeting?
My
Limekiller
1 can of Mountain Dew
2 shots Finlandia vodka
splash of triple-sec
twist of lime
straw for networking
Serve with ice.
Made this up as a joke at an ACM party back in college (we had a "Windows" too, but it was horrible and weak), but the Linux continues to be a favorite of mine.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
hmmmm.... I wonder if they're set up so I can use paypal to buy those guys a drink?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
You have to sign-up for an AdultCheck(TM) ID before you can get an account.
a sysadmin job you can really love
slashdot, news for crazed liberal socialist zealots
Remember kids, prior to a thorough slashdotting, always remember to mount a scratch BARMONKEY!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
My biggest beef with the interface is you have to enter a numeric code to pick a drink thus requiring some chart of all 188 drinks. Once you've partaken of the Monkey a few times, are you really going to be manage it? A-ha! The interface is intentially difficult to act as a throttle on consumption. Once you're sufficiently drunk, you can't manage to order another.
For v.2 I'd use a bigger LCD and display actual drink names, possibly grouped hierarchically by type or primary ingredient. Drink numbers would remain to act as a shortcut for patrons who remember the number of a drink they order often. A touch screen would kick ass but I think they're less robust and more expensive.
Since each patron has an account, I'd give it a "The Usual" button which could be set for each patron. Instead of a PIN, I'd also consider a card swipe. They're students so they could use their student ID as the card.
Only problem of course is soon coke will be sending out viruses that turn all the pepsi formulas into shit so people migrate away from pepsi. Or something like that...
Until we figure out a way to make a distributed system of these so that my Bar-Monkey can use someone else's liquor, I'm not interested.
Th
..does that mean the drinks are "Free?"
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
How about the fact that it's a server that serves drinks?
Who cares what OS it runs.. It can get you drunk.
...of a machine at my university:
"The Stochastic Bartender"
Basically, it's a modified slotmachine, where instead of the three cherries, bananas and apples, there is a type of hard liquor, one liqueur and one mixer.
Drinks from The Stochastic Bartender cost half, on one condition - you only get to pull that lever once.
I'm telling you - that devil piece of machinery can come up with some truly repulsive shit:
4cl Bäska Droppar ("Bitter Drops", Swedish vodka spiced with wormwood, this stuff makes you feel like a man)
Blue Curacao
Grapefruite juice
This guy is using windshield washer pumps to move the fluids.
YUCK!
Sorry, I'd rather use something less likely to contaminate the fluid I was moving.
A peristaltic pump would be far better - you get volumetric measuring free, and you can use medical grade non-contaminating tubing.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Haven't you heard the motto: Avoid Drinking and Driving - get drunk at home.
RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
"Make me a Pangalactic Gargleblaster!"
(bar Monkey: "Fizzle Pop POOF" halon goes off.. etc)
Seriously.. all I need is one of these, a large funnel, my T-3 cranial and a really good thought-robotic typey arm program and life will be GRAND!
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
This is awesome! This has plausable commercial implications. How nice would it be to goto a bar and not have to worry about tipping someone, you just slide your credit card or insert your money and select your drink and you get it in 10 seconds. If I owned a bar I would consider it. After all, the money stuff would be pretty standard to implement, people have been doing stuff like that for years. So say you need 3 for your bar to operate efficiently and you would normally have 2 bartenders working. So you spend $500 a piece on the robots, and you normally pay 2 bartenders $5/hour+tips to work the bar and your bar is open from noon to 3 am each day. That accounts for $150/day in employee expenses.
Now you implement the robots and your initial investment in them is $1500 and cost to run is literally nothing but electricity. In addition you would need 1 person there responsible for checking IDs and swapping out liquours, so that is say $100/day because you aren't giving the person tips anymore. You've saved yourself approximately $50/day in operating costs which means in 30 days the robots have paid for themselves and you see profits increase by $50/day which over the course of the year is $18,250. I'd say this is a bloody good idea if someone had the resources to market and mass produce this.
Memories become legend, Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten by the time that age comes again.-Robert Jordan
Windows would incorporate Drinking Rights Management to ensure kiddies are only served root beer.
Before each drink request, imbibers of legal age must slide their driver's license through a slot for verification, along with the card of a preauthorized designated driver (even for home use). Remember to make each successive drink request with the same glass you used for your first request, or nefarious activity will be suspected and the tap will shut down, forcing you to call Microsoft for a reactivation code.
Now I have bar envy. And I'm thirsty. Damn you!
today is spelling optional day.
What the hell is Ninnle anyway?
Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.
So now you can punch the monkey, and it gives you a drink.
And if you are two drunk to punch the monkey, you need to go home.....
- - - - - - - - - - -
I am a programmer. I am paid to produce syntax not grammar. Deal with it.
Can it handle a Big Gulp Gin and Tonic?
Yeah, gotta get Hooked on Monkey-Linux?
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
"The Bar-Monkey is a bar built around a 486 running linux..."
Thanks, guys! When the lights were down it looked a LOT better than that.
Sucks when I get home with a coyote-ugly PC.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
and brings a monkey along with him. The bartender notices the monkey stealing martini olives, sticking them up his butt and then eating them.
The bartender asks the man "What the hell is wrong with your monkey?"
To which the man replies "He ate a cue-ball last week. Now he measures everything before he eats it."
it probably cost that three times that much in liquor over the three months...
I was thinking of how to intentionally fail my drug test... It would make a good memoir story someday.
I've always wanted to do little projects like this, where a computer controls various relays. The only thing I don't know how to do is get the computer to control them! Are there inexpensive kits that connect to, say, a serial port? I'd love it if anyone who has experience with similar things can tell me how to do this cheaply.
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices
After about 3 drinks this machine will be useless. Who's going to remember a 5-digit, hex PIN.
At least it's not voice recognition, then I'd be in BIG trouble.
I'ddd liiikke an Aba..laamba Slaammmer plleease.
I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
How lame. With 16 ingredients, it ought to be able to make AT LEAST 65535 different drinks (using 0 or 1 oz. of each ingredient, dispensed into a 16 oz. glass, of course). 65536 if you count the Zen Enlightener (0 oz. of each ingredient). I'm sure that it can generate a name for each by mapping each binary drink recipe (0 vodka, 1 bourbon, 0 tequila, 1 grape soda, ...) to the corresponding integer, and assigning the drink the same name as the /. user with that ID. Sweet.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
"Honest, Your Honor, it was hackers who got me drunk. I only ordered orange juice."
Table-ized A.I.
I think it's probably more to do with the ingredients than the storage capacity...
> The Bar-Monkey is a bar built around a 486 running
> linux that can dispense an 8 ounce mixed drink in
> under 10 seconds
I know, I know... If it used Windows it would take much longer.
Doesn't the dispensing speed have a lot more to do with the pump than the OS or CPU? Why put that artificial slant on the opening paragraph?
I mean, a GWBASIC program on a 4.77MHz XT running MS-DOS 2.0 could find an item in a list of 188 and send a control string to a pump in a very small fraction of a second.
Since the user would get all their drinks from the machine, it could generate a report on what a user's BAC is likely to be (x number of drinks over y amount of time, adjusted to body weight). It could flash this info the the user everytime they buy a drink, so they know if they're going to be over the legal limit for driving or if they're getting close to dangerous levels. Hell, the barmonkey could even cut people off.
"I'm sorry, the Monkey says you've had enough, dude."
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Some of the charm of buying mixed drinks at a bar is figuring out which bars and bartenders mix them *just* right for your tastes. This is too artificial...
Imagine a drunken guy named Beowulf lying face down by a cluster of these...
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
Always mount a scratch monkey
Especially in cases where alcohol is involoved, don't want the natives getting restless when the Monkey dies.
I like music
1. Random Mode:
-Dispenses a random drink of the 188 to the indecisive party-goer.
2. Random Mix Mode:
-Randomly mixes the available ingredients for the adventurous party-goer
3. Breathalyzer based cutoff
- Prevents users from drinking when they reach a certain BAL. Or makes a fun game to see who can blow the highest.
4. Built in Drinking Games
- Electronic quarters, name that TV theme, etc. Penalty drinks automatically assessed.
Ahh! I used up my mod points yesterday... Please someone mod the parent up -- this is really funny! And for those who don't get the reference...
Long version: http://www.acme.com/jef/netgems/scratch_monkey.htm l t ch-monkey.html
Short version: http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/entry/scra
Not Harvey Mudd.
Harry Mudd....
Or in full: Harcourt Fenton Mudd.
Not everyone deserves a 320i
"It seems like you're trying to get hammered. Would you like to make your next drink a double?"
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
Yeah, this sounds like a good idea, but it probably wouldn't mix too well with the other big Harvey Mudd College tradition. I mean, doesn't alcohol affect your sense of balance?
How about the fact that it's a server that serves drinks? Who cares what OS it runs.. It can get you drunk.
So, explain to me why you need a computer to do this? You should have a built in OS that takes care of getting drunk just fine already, so what's the deal?
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Port Eliza to it, and it'll listen to your problems as well.
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
Hey, I actually have a small bar in my (finished) cellar. My wife has an old Pentium 2 that's just about due to be replaced... It seems I've found the perfect use for it.
Behold, for this is a glorious moment! My life now has meaning!
I take drugs seriously.
Why use windshield pumps? alcohol might disagree w/ the gaskets within and dump some nasty shite in your glass - ick
Why use pumps at all? Just use relays and let gravity do its work - pinch off tubes below the bottles.
What I wanna know is if it can make a pangalactic gargleblaster.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Also, I would point out that their dispenser is made out of Schedule 40 DWV PVC pipe - non-potable Drain, Waste, and Vent only pipe. They could have gotten potable CPVC pipe for just a few dollars more and then every drink wouldn't taste like chemicals.
Of course, I guess that DWV PVC pipe is probably no worse than the windshield washer pumps...
Still, I'd love to have their design and build one for my home bar.
I did not design this game/I did not name the stakes/I just happen to like apples/And I am not afraid of snakes-AniD
Real men drink beer. (real beer, not Bud of course).
It comes 'premixed' in a bottle, very convenient...
<grub> Reading
*ahem*
I work with computers that run Mac OS 9 and FileMaker 5.0. They drive me to drink. Does that count?
Jouster
no, that was cyrano jones in "The Trouble With Tribbles."
when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
A geeky bar like this is probably a recipe for disaster...imagine a bunch of nerds getting piss-drunk and then betting each other to go to the Linux console and typing: su root rm -rf / There goes THAT idea...
Once I get my brewing fridge cleaned up (lots of rust and stickers on the outside that I want to remove), I plan on setting up a II+ as a temperature controller...it should be able to start at one temperature for primary fermentation and slowly ramp the temperature down for lagering. Instead of serving alcohol, it'll assist in making the stuff. :-)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
combine the bar monkey with one of those simon games, you know, the one with the four big light up buttons that flash in a specific order and you have to match the order or you lose. only in the drinking game, every time you match the order you have to take a drink.
or should it be anytime you miss the order you have to take a drink?
when religion is no longer the opiate of the masses, governments will resort to real opiates.
So lets get this straight....
;-) /b
There are a bunch of pics of the machine being built and none of anyone getting drunk and throwing up?
What do they do with it? Stand there, look at it and and tweak the kernel?
Damn Geeks.
[Please type your sig here.]
Hmmm, that's entirely up to the owner of the machine but your ideas will show up in the WindowBar that Bill Gates will make. It will be advertised for three years, on the market in five years, cost four times as much, give you advice you don't want, report all this info back to Microsoft, then cut you off when your license runs out. Have you seen the clippy animation where he flips you off and calls you a weenie? You will.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
An engineer on wiskey can be risky.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I am assuming they did not factor in man hours. When one starts to value his time, he quickly realizes the true cost of these things.
Something must be wrong.
16 elements which are either present, or not present in the glass.
Sounds like 16 bits of storage to me.
That means it should be able to mix 65,536 drinks. Well, 65,535 if you don't count "empty glass" as a drink.
Naming them, OTOH, might be somewhat more complicated; although possibly entertaining.
Maybe you could name them after famous computer numbers? For the old school hacker: drink 53280 would be a "C64 Screen Border". For the new school hacker: drink 31337 would simply be called "leet". Windows guys could drink a BSOD: drink #13; w4rez d00Dz could drink HTTPs and FTPs (80, 21). Managers could drink a "Biff" - drink # 512.
We could serve the ladies drinks 42, 513, and 517 -- in hopes that they might be in the mood for a 79 or maybe even a quick 513. Heck, some of the ladies might even like drink #587.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
"we were overbudget by $85"
Wonder how that happened...
"Beta Testing"
Nevermind...
Uses 16 windshield washer pumps run by a 12V adaptor.
And when they're all running at once on graveyard(), man, you can feel it in your knees.
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
Use your computer's printer port - 8 bidirectional lines you can wiggle to make things happen.
I'd suggest using solid state relays (SSR)'s - your printer port wouldn't drive a normal relay directly, but it could drive an SSR.
Either that, or use the printer port to drive a transistor, then use the transistor to drive the coil on a standard relay.
Don't forget to add a snubber network across the relay coil - either a diode or a capacitor. Otherwise the inductive kickback from the coil when you de-energize it could fry things.
www.eFax.com are spammers
actually the solution is to use solenoid valves and CO2.
if you would simply buy a few old pepsi or coke premix containers that are stainless steel and simply use older but still purchaseable at low cost soda fountian parts you can have each of the canisters hold each ingredient in a fridge. pressurize each canister as they are supposed to be via CO2 and use stainless solenoid valves. you wont get super accurate dispensing unless you do aholding bottle... open valve 1 fill 1 ounce length of line, close valve one open valve 2 to dispense while valve 3 opens to purge the line to actually do the dispensing.
I'd just go with a simple timer and open the valve for a certian time constant.. if someone accidnetly get's a stronger drink... whooptie doo.
I discovered adding a soda bar to by basement is dirt cheap if you go for the older technology.. I purchased the premix-canisters from ebay for $5.00 each and simply use food grade tubing and CO2 is the absolute cheapest gas on the planet.
PROBLEM... Orange juice is horribly acidic and will attack anything... including stainless steel. get low acid juice or remove that ingredient from your selection.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anyone else notice the reference to the Bruce Willis film 12 Monkeys? That logo on the front of the machine is identical to the 12 Monkeys logo from the movie..
Did anyone notice the very nice usage of the 12 monkeys logo? Sweetness.
Not All Who Wander Are Lost
you could always use your 1337 |-|4X0RiN6 Z|<i11Z to get free drinks! because after all, drinks want to be free!
Free as in mason.
I have been kicking around a controlled lights idea, and source like this would be invaluable.
Click here or here.
Why are they considering replacing the cola? Much like they killed good music, stable code, and muscle cars -- the kids of today are just going to make sure whiskey and coke's are only a memory....
Here is my vote to save the Cola. (Anyone who was thinking of joining the Mandrake CLub -- please reconsider and send to the "Save The Cola" fund instead..)
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Remember, with 16 ingredients the maximum possible combinations is "only" 256 different kinds of drinks. In the real world, though, it's inevitable that certain ingredients won't go together very well, so the number of possible combinations comes down, and having 188 possible combinations is a fairly reasonable number.
Not true, given that different drinks can be mixed with the same ingredients, but in different proportions. Also, several of the "ingredients" are up for possible replacement (according to the website), so the available drinks could change. Lastly, they do mention that the machine has space for many more recipies, implying that 188 is merely a starting number of drink recipies, not an upper bound imposed by available ingredients.
My question is, why only have 1.7 liters of each beverage available? Wouldn't you run out of drinks rather quickly in a party situation?
6 oz. of any colored alcohol of your choice (blue curacao, etc).
Neat. In a square glass.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Who needs an operating system that can make coffee when you can have one that makes alcoholic drinks?! Too bad it don't serve Negra Modelo. Una mas cerveza por favor!
Costs five times as much for the bar, plus $350 for every drinker. Default .WET Bar only works with 2 bottles. 8, 16, and 32 bottle versions cost more. And they only work with MS-Bottle shaped libations.
Sun has a "The Bot in Bottle" version that works great with 64 bottles. HP keeps saying their version works faster, but only because their machine doesn't pour full 1oz shots.
Apple has the most gourgous looking Bar available. It glows in the dark and floats around the room on magnets. But it only pours Apple Martini's and still doesn't run Quark.
Hmmm, now I know why Dustin wasn't in class very much this fall!
Still human interaction and good music, as well as good drinks. Come over and have a drink sometime.
--Ben (current Baja member)
A hookup to the bar's water supply - how else can it water down drinks and make even more profit.
Or like the bar across the street from my college - they used real cheap vodka to "water down" the other liquours. That way people still get drunk and buy more and they spend less on the booze.
On the downside - your whiskey sour tasted like vodka, but the place stayed full until they widened the road.