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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.
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?
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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
...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.
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.
Wife.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
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!
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/iGlasswareGreat, 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..
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.
But does it advertise to the central server the precise brand or type of brew you were drinking?
Oh the possibilities...
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.
Funny how your post is so familiar.
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.
What if everyone finishes their pitcher at the same time, could we see the slashdot effect at the bar?
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.