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Build Your Own Wireless Beer Pitcher Monitoring System
Willy K. writes "Technology comes to the rescue when disaster strikes and your pitcher runneth dry. These Cornell students have rigged up beer pitchers that wirelessly advertise to the central serving station when they are empty, prompting alert wait staff to bring another round." Add a few steins and you're all set.
is an automated system to refill it!
In combination with this earlier pizza story from tonight, this should make for an interesting evening!
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
...that a cut-down shotgun get's the attention of the bar staff..
This is probably the most useful "college student" invention post I have seen on the front page of Slashdot in a long time. As a former bar manager this would be something I would purchase with very few refinements. If this ever goes past the "gee thats neat stage" and becomes a real product it could be a must have for numberous establishments.
Please do not let scientific accuracy interfere with the intended humourous/interesting/insightful value of this comment
How is this so dramatically different from the author's previous stated stein post? Does the original story differ that much from stein to pitcher? You'd think the original empty stein could be very easily modified to fit on to a pitcher, and voila! a wireless pitcher that would notify bar personnel that your pitcher is empty.
YOU'RE WINNER !
Another lame blog
it's called living in Vegas. The only place where "last call" even exists are in "family" establishments.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
Why the very thought of anyone drinking such a low class beverage has CAUSED MY MONOCLE TO POP RIGHT OUT! And really, who drinks beer in this day and age anyway? Everyone should drink only expensive wine and scotch.
Why just the other day my chauffer took a wrong turn off of the freeway and pulled me past this run down little liquor store where this shabby looking man (who by the way was driving a Pontiac! A PONTIAC!!!) who hadn't shaved for a couple of days was walking out with a bottle of Johnny Walker Red. RED LABEL?! I exclaimed, exhaling a puff of cigar smoke and tipping my top hat back in a bemused manner. WHO ARE THESE CRETINS? I practically had my driver phone the police right then and there..
Introduction
We created a wireless device to affix to the bottom of a pitcher that alerts the wait staff when the pitcher is empty.
We used the a priori knowledge that when a pitcher is empty the pitcher’s bottom is perpendicular to the ground. By affixing an accelerometer to the bottom of a pitcher we can detect the angle of the bottom in relation to the ground. There is a direct correlation between the maximum angle the pitcher has reached and the volume still in the pitcher. We use this fact to monitor the pitcher’s volume through a wireless connection. The signal from the accelerometer is transmitted at 433MHz directly from the pitcher to the server station. The server station consists of an LCD and an array of control buttons that reset the meter, change the table number, and reset the pitcher count.
High Level Design
Rationale
Our decision to create the beverage monitor for our project was due to a combination of factors. The stroke of genius came when Erin remembered hearing about a bar in Japan that implemented a system that alerted the wait staff of when an individual’s drink was empty. This appealed to us for 2 main reasons. Matt recalls many nights frequenting a local bar, The Royal Palms. All too often he was unable to locate a waitress and place an order before last call. His frustration along with Erin’s desire to create a potentially marketable and original project gave birth to the implementation of the beverage monitor.
Background Math
We monitored the tilt of the pitcher using the duty cycle output of our accelerometer. The MCU measures the rising edge pulse width, T1, and the total length of the duty cycle, T2. The acceleration is calculated by the following equation:
Then the arcsine of the acceleration is taken to find the angle of the tilt. This angle correlates to the volume of the pitcher.
In order to minimize the influence of invalid angle readings as a result of the wireless connection, Professor Land showed us a simple low pass filter to use:
Y(t) is the calculated angle, x(t) is the current angle reading, and y(t-1) is the previously calculated angles. The parameter α was determine through trial and error during testing.
Logical Structure
Our overall project design can be reduced to three specific states that can be seen in the state diagram below. The first state, the state entered at the beginning of the programs execution, is the Set Table state. In this mode the wait staff can select the table that they are serving. The selection is made by using two buttons, one to increment the table number and one to decrement it. Once the correct table is selected, the enter button is hit and the program then goes into Monitor mode. In this mode the wireless device on the pitcher sends the signal from the accelerometer to the server station. At the server station, the wait staff can see the number of the table being served and how many rounds have been served to the table. There is also a status bar showing the status of the pitcher’s volume. The MCU at the server station uses the signal from the pitcher to calculate its volume. In this state, there is a reset button in case a different table is about to be served. Unless the reset button is pressed, the program will stay in this state until the pitcher is empty. Once the signal indicated the pitcher is empty, the last state, the Refill state, is entered. Here the server station indicates that the table needs a refill. Once the wait staff refills the pitcher they press the enter button and the project returns to the Monitor state, and the additional round is indicated on the display. The reset button can also be used in the Refill state if the table decides not to go for another pitcher.
Hardware/Software Tradeoffs
When we implemented the receiver and transmitter our results were less than perfect. The problems occurred as a result of noise and antenna related issues. There were both h
Funny, I always thought that was the job of a good bar maid...
What about just using a simple mercury switch that is tripped when the pitcher is tipped to a certain point?
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
The server station consists of an LCD and an array of control buttons that reset the meter, change the table number, and reset the pitcher count. So now I need an engineering degree just to serve beer?
I'm not denying that their idea works, it just seems there is probably an easier (or at least cheaper) way.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
How is this different from shouting WERE OUTTA BEER! at the top of your lungs?
I like my beers handed to me not thrown.
As a former ham (still got the license, but haven't done anything with it in years), it's kinda depressing to see that they don't even know what amateur radio is -- which led them to illegally use the 70-cm UHF band, thinking "amateur" meant "do whatever you want".
They needed a frequency in an unlicensed or research/experimental band.
We used the a priori knowledge that when a pitcher is empty the pitcher's bottom is perpendicular to the ground..... There is a direct correlation between the maximum angle the pitcher has reached and the volume still in the pitcher. ;)
Could this be modifed to:
We used the a priori knowledge that when a punter is full the punter's bottom is parallel with the ground..... There is a direct correlation between the maximum angle the punter has reached and the volume still in the pitcher.
Could be a good way to easily tell when you've had to much
I recognize the fact that I'm in college and don't tend to spend a lot of money on food so I over tip (sometimes the amount of the meal) when the (usually) waitress does a good job. At places like Chili's or Ruby Tuesday's a plate usually doesn't go much over $7. 15% is barely a $1.00. She does pretty much the same amount of work regardless of how expensive my plate is so I usually don't tip less than $5. I've also worked food service so I know what the job is like.
This is nice for personal parties when there's a lot going on but it's not encouraging to patrons who busted their ass all day and now get to watch the waitresses or whoever sit in the back getting paid to watch the beer indicator.
When I worked as a host for birthday parties at a kid's pizza place, the pitchers where the excuse to keep myself visible to the parents and active in the party in order to get a larger tip. You fill the pitchers before they become empty and while you're doing that you talk to the parents and see what else you can do for them.
In the food business that's the way it works. The more involved with the customers you are, the better the tip. So although a nice novelty, it could have a negative impact on the tip for those who use it to try to make their job "easier."
Ben
Work Safe Porn
This is michael posting. Shouldn't this article be under YRO? I mean, think of the privacy applications of having a device monitor your beer consumption. Frankly, this is pretty frightening, and, though I may be putting on my tin foil hat here a bit, I think it's safe to say that this is another drastic setback for modern privacy rights.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
From their web page: "The FCC sets aside frequencies between 420 MHz and 450 MHz for Amateur use, thus we are complying with the standard by transmitting our signal at 433MHz." IAHRO (I'm a ham radio operator - for 46 years.) It is fine to transmit on 433 MHz IF they have an FCC license and the transmitter identifies it's call sign at the proper interval. Otherwise, it's not legal.
Amateur radio does not mean unlicensed. Getting a license is very easy. Check with your local ham radio club for details or visit http://www.arrl.org/
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
is my eyeballs.
If I see it's empty, I fill it.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
...as real pubs don't have wait staff, they have bar staff who you ask for a new jug/pitcher from when and if you need one. If y
The most annoying though is guys in the toilet in some bars that are there for the sack of tips. I mean really I know how to wash my hands, and dry them to. The're only reason as far as I can see is to basically squirt soup on my hands and after washin my hands to dry with paper towels, and then for me to give a tip for a task I could have completed in half the time if I had done it by myself. In fact I consider very tacky for a bar to do this, it insults the intellgence and cleanliness of its clients.
the bartender is already watching how much you drink. They're required to do so by law. If a patron gets drunk in your bar and goes out and kills somebody because of their drunkeness, the bar can be held liable.
There's also a beer drinking indicator called a "tab." It's this piece of paper that keeps track of how many drinks you've had and how much you owe the place.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Well, I guess that's definitely a step forward from the (now) antequated "Plug-in Beer Pitcher Monitoring System." Sure, you can get around the bar if you bring an extension cord, but don't spill your beer on any open leads. Drunk geeks make excellent ground connections.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
didn't they have one of these things that notified about the coke machine being empty pre-dot-com-boom?
did you forget to take your meds?
There is no beer "inside" my stein.
Wife.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
Yes now i dont have to walk up satirs
That's all you have to do. Just messure the decrease in weight. Why do they have to make it anymore complicated in it needs to be? *sigh*
KISS everyone. Keep It Simple Stupid
Life is not for the lazy.
From the project site:
1. Accept responsibility in making engineering decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment. We realize that our project could appear to be unsafe because it encourages drinking and the continuation of purchasing beverages.
Why must everything involving alcohol (at least in the US) automatically assume at one point or another that drinking = bad? All this does is let you (or rather, the wait staff) know your pitcher is empty for a refill. I fail to see how it "encourages" excessive drinking (which is implied). When I go to a restaraunt and the waiter/waitress asks if I'd like a beer, is he/she "encouraging" me to drink excessively? Is he/she "encouraging" me to drink excessively when asking if I want another beer when my current beer is almost empty?
-- Fugacity: Confusing chemists since 1908
Seems like Michael has something on his mind. First the Command Line Pizza and now the Auto Replenish Beer.
Guesses for next subject - Barf Bags, Taxi Rides Home, Diet Trends?
Now this is a solid Slashdot story. None of this duplication bullshit, none of this silly Microsoft vs. Linux garbage. True technology by geeks for geeks. News for nerds that matters.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
I think we all wish our lab partners were as hot as this chic!!!
Now we know the true intentions for the beer pitcher project!
*shameless pickup line* Hot chic...if you read this, email me!!!! I like beer too!
Niven thought of that idea'r a longggg time ago, son.
ok, back to my yak tending...MMMM Yaks!
... for not paying attention these past few years. Good info.
73 de KD4MAB
These "college students" forgot one thing. They need to tweak that trigger angle. Never wait til the pitcher's completely empty to order the next one. Sheesh. Kids these days . . .
The same problem can also be solved by measuring capacitance of the glass across the remaining fluid. (I don't really understand this, but I'm believe it's fairly simple.)
The article references this, in fact.
http://www.merl.com/projects/iGlasswareIf the wait staff was alert, then you wouldn't need the pitcher to tell them it was empty!
This is not a new invention. Mitsubishi Electric has done this before: iGlassware
The Japanese version does not require batteries in the glasses or pitchers.
#define end }
OMFG. Are these guys for real? What's next:
#define procedure void
Or better yet := =
#define
#define = ==
LRC, the best-read libertarian site on the web
Great, so now instead of paying a person to make the rounds and ensure everyone has a supply of beer we can replace them with a machine. Whatever can't be outsourced..
$20 says that the parent AC is the same who wrote its parent.
MOD UP PARENT? It's MOD PARENT UP.
I do agree about the karma whoring though.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
To be really useful, the notifiaction ought to take into account the temp of the beer (if it's room temp, it's probably not being actively drunk-- abandoned/empty/etc), weird angles on the bar table, and (most importantly) time (if it's 1:45, there are going to be a whole lot of beeping pitchers, but only a few will need refilling-- and those few will have to be refilled asap).
The time thing is probably the most important-- maybe prioritize based on previous purchases or your local ABC laws, etc.
You don't understand, here in the USA people have fallen into the mindset that personal responsibility is no longer to be practiced, and when something goes wrong, it is obviously someone else's fault. That's why you get people's moms suing video game companies because said company makes a game that's so "addictive", the son stays home all day and just plays the game.
Who is the girl in the pictures? Can I buy her a couple beers? :>
It's not really that simple, though. You'd need some sort of force sensor in the bottom of a pitcher, like a spring. The problem is that the force would change all the time: when you lift and lower the pitcher (think of the force on your feet in an accelerating elevator), when it bangs on the table, when it tilts, etc. You could add some sort of timer to make sure the force decrease lasts a while, but now we're getting away from simplicity again. Plus wear and tear on the sensor would probably be rather high.
But does it advertise to the central server the precise brand or type of brew you were drinking?
Oh the possibilities...
Why should yours?
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Now all we need is method and apparatus, er, that is, a solenoid-operated tap controlled through a command line utility that works in most UNIX shells, so we can refill our pitchers or glasses from our keyboard. It might look something like this:
(It would be similar to the Pizza Party utility advertised in another of /.'s stories posted tonight, except it would refill beer instead of ordering pizzas. The -b option would use a flat text file to map beer names to tap numbers for maximum convenience.)
Then, we could create a beer glass or pitcher monitoring daemon, beerd, which would invoke refill every time the pitcher empties, sending as the -b argument the name of the beer with which beerd was originally invoked.
I can see it already: U.S. Patent #287542384328092840234, Method and Apparatus for Refilling a Beer Pitcher or Glass Through a UNIX Command Line Utility, and U.S. Patent #234823084932842843492, Method and Apparatus for Providing a GUI Frontend to the Beer Refilling Command Line Utility. (The GNOME version would be called Geer, the KDE version would be called Keer, RMS would insist that names of beer should be changed to GNU/Guinness, etc.) And, needless to say, U.S. Patent #234823084932842843493, Method and Apparatus for Automatically Invoking the Beer Refilling Command Line Utility, After Optionally Displaying a Dialog Box that Reads, "Are You Sure You Want Another Pitcher, You've Already Had Ten Beers Tonight?" With The Yes And No Buttons Moving Around So The Drunk Can't Click On Them.
Then, we'll sue Darl for infringing on our patents when he's drinking his depression away after SCO crashes and burns. (What a waste of perfectly good beer.)
And as if this isn't enough, we'll invent Pay Per Drink, a system whereby you get a keg of Guinness and a tap installed in your home for free, and when you activate the tap, a charge will be made to your credit card through the Internet. Brings new meaning to DRM. But to make IRC conversations with your friends across the globe more interesting, you could download ebeerd, the Extended Beer Daemon, which would allow your friends to "buy you a beer" through the Internet, which would be dispensed through the tap at your house. Then, you can buy all your friends a round, from the comfort of everybody's home, with a single click. (GUI frontends for GNOME and KDE should be forthcoming for this one, as should a Jabber plug-in.)
Hmmmmmmmm... All this talk about beer, I need to get me a drink. Lucky I have some Guinness around. :-)
Guinness. Because friends don't let friends drink Lite Beer.
(Astute readers might notice that a long time ago, I didn't like Guinness and made a lot of posts where I said so. In fact, for a while, my sig even said something to the effect of, "George Killian's Irish Red. Because friends don't let friends drink Guinness." So what's changed? I discovered the difference between Guinness Stout and Guinness Draught. I stopped drinking Stout, started drinking Draught, and that fixed the problem. Now I drink at least a pint every night. Oh, and by the way, Irish Red is really, really good!!!)
Though I'm no regulatory expert in the matter, I've seen numerous unlicensed devices operating at 433 MHz. As long as they adhere to Part 15 of the FCC rules, they're likely okay.
It is this kind of innovation and creativity that will save American tech jobs.
Table-ized A.I.
"The angle of the pitcher is monitored and calculated within our code at a rate much greater than an individual could ever pour a beverage out of a pitcher, thus the speed and concurrency is sufficient."
Clearly these folks haven't ever seen a beer pitcher fly out at about 360 degrees from a drunken frat boy's hand.
our jobs are being shipped en masse to India China and East Europe, and you're worrying about motherfucking BEER?
If you drink enough beer, it does not matter if your job is offshored. After a few dozen drinks, you forget what a "job" is. Hell, maybe we can get Indians to drink their asses off also, and show up late for work. Even the playing field, or should I say, wobbling field.
Slashdot had the article a few months ago about a wireless beer mug monitoring system using additional equipment under the table. Maybe someone more industrious than me will include the link. I don't remember if it was related to this effort at all, but it's certainly related.
Anyone remember this? I remember running XCoffee when hanging out at CL ten years ago.
Prime numbers are exactly what Alan Greenspan says they are -S. Minsky
Hope this doesn't sound too trollish, but this hardly seems like a challenging senior design project, but that may just be beacuse I've just finished working and demostrating our project: a shipping shock indicator which records acceleration and timestamp data in 3 axes for at least 5 days and is bluetooth enabled. We have over 2k of assembly code for our PIC16 microcontroller and a nice GUI written in C#. After our project, i just feel like I could knock their's out in a weekend, except for maybe the antenna issues. Anyhow that's my two Abe Lincoln protrait's worth, take it or leave it.
I've discovered a remarkable proof, but this margin is too small to contain it...
Funny how your post is so familiar.
Wireless beer....mmmmmm :P~~~~~
You invest so much time in something that only needs you to stand up and move your ass..., nice project though.
the last few years have given us: blue teethed camera phones, wi-fi, gps, i-tunes, etc. All useless compared to this fine implementation of hi-tech that will benefit all of mankind for generations to come.
The best solution I've ever seen of this problem was the Rio restaurant that had a metered beer tap on every table. Not entirely unlike a gas pump.At the end of the meal you got a bill with the total amount of beer consumed at the table.
Or so I assume. I can't really remember that part of the night very clearly.
Unamerican bastard.
their business would have suffered.
7 cf r15_03.html
e Doc/pr t1_2.pdf
License-free operation on 433 MHz is only permitted under strict conditions of low power and periodicity.
They did not know about either.
The law is 47 CFR (code of federal regulations) which is the US telecommunications law. The part that dictates license free operation is part 15.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/4
There is a nice summary on page 5 of this
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/Devic
But with the beer and all it's a neat idea - so let's do it!
If the purveyors of beer really wanted to solve the problem this addresses, they could put more staff on (as others have said), or just install a 'service' button on each table/booth/whatever?
It worked one time for the airline industry.
Gee, I'm thirsty...
What if everyone finishes their pitcher at the same time, could we see the slashdot effect at the bar?
And for pirate radio, visit http://www.arr!.org/
Well thats what you have to do in this part of the world anyway. None of this table service crap!
And since you have to do it yourself, its pretty bloody easy to know when you need another one, you can see the bottom of your glass!
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
strange brew, that's good for you.
Umm, isn't this a bit of overkill?
Couldn't they accomplish this with a wireless connection attached to a scale?
Attach the scale to the table, and have the scale report a refill need only when the scale registers the weight of the pitcher (+/-delta liquid weight)?
Or, even better, how about a button with a wireless connection that pages your waitress for you?
I remeber the talking breathalizer my lab partner and I made at Vandy engineering school in the late 80's. 6502 processor, alcohol sensor and the TI talking chip. Anyone else remember their senior design projects?
Im sorry but to use #define begin {
is evil and shouldn't be used IMHO.
I wonder why they decided to do that, i really hope that they doesn't teach that at cornell.
That out of the way, i think it's a cool article and i would love if my local bar had it.
They used an assumption that always holds true. One way or another, a horizontal beer pitcher is empty. The other sensors have failure modes: locally bright light, beer sloshing away from the sensor, droplet left over on the sensor, apparent weight changes due to inertia, movement tripping the mercury switch.
The cheapest thing to add, it would remove the irritation of having to catch the waiter's eye, and allow the waiter to know, everyone is fine without constantly looking at all tables.
Airplanes had this for years, but I'm only aware of one restaurant, where such a system is in use.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
MOD PARENT UP
Not really. You could have a double lining, with the pressure sensor between the two. And if you fed the output into an integrating circuit, it would ignore any small variations caused by picking up or putting down the pitcher, only tripping when the output stayed low for a "long" time.
your mug is spammed or hijacked? You know there are some evil bastards that would screw with your beers.