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Kegbot: The Future of Robotic Drink Service, Now
An anonymous reader writes "Frat houses all over the world could soon be linked up in massive online drinking games, thanks to Kegbot, a standard kegerator that uses an RFID alternative to track how much the drinkers have imbibed and feeds that data over an embedded ethernet into an online database.
One of Kegbot's main creators, Mike Wakerly, says the technology can actually promote more responsible drinking because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap after the system detects that they've had more than their alloted fluid ounces." Reader bloglogic points to "more pics and instructions on building your own Kegbot at the Make Magazine web site."
the drunk person gives 5$ no a non-drunk person so that they can get them drinks from kegbot. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Until Kegbot can tell when someone is pulling, that's not going to be a very effective control.
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
a robot that cuts me off? we have to do everything we can to stop this insidious technology before its too late!
I for one welcome our new robotic drink-serving overlords.
*hic* be a palll won't ya and gimme yr tag so i can get a drink and stuff. *hic*
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/ 28/0613233&threshold=1&tid=216&tid=99
Then I'm all for it.
I don't get it.
I can see it now.... little robot pieces everywhere... oh the humanity...
Might be to pour your last allotted beer into/onto the kegbot, thereby disabling him. Or maybe urine.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
My guess is that it'll be like that bar that installed a breathalyzer as a courtesy for its patrons, only to find out they used it to compete in "who's the drunkest?" games.
From the site - 'drunk: 3.9 ounces'
Um, is that a small beer? A huge whiskey?
In Britain we use pints or litres. I've never heard of an ounce of alcohol. Ounces are usually reserved for illegal drugs.
Can someone help?
http://milkshake.dexy.org
because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap
This is an Evil machine that needs to be killed and never spoken of again.
Some more dead kids coming up soon!
Just what we need. The promotion of an activity that is harmful and destructive.
How many will die from alcohol poisoning now?
How many will get killed in car wrecks?
How many will kill others in car wrecks?
The lucky ones will get arrested and MAY stop in time.
What ever happened to going to school to LEARN??
My son chose to go to a religious college because of the reputation of the local community college had from drunkeness and just turning out ignorant idiots.
There should be a nationwide ban of alcohol on college campuses, public and private.
F*cking idiots......
Oh yeah, there's a big selling point for frats. Those things will be flyin' off the shelves.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
it allows people to be cut off from using the tap after the system detects that they've had more than their alloted fluid ounces.
Let me know where this robot is NOT in use, so I can avoid it. I don't need party hosts purposely implementing 1984-ish automated law enforcement in their own homes, let alone the government, thank you.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
It's a very clever plan to make hackers the most popular guys at the party.
Let's see, a robot that replaces your own sense of when you've had enough, somehow promotes "responsibility"? Not even the bartender is "responsible" in that cutoff scenario - it's the programmer, if anyone. That kind of "responsibility" is known as a "crutch". An early form of cybernetics that helps people unable to function on their own to make it through a task anyway. But crutches don't do anything for one's conscience, self control, or "responsibility".
Of course, this device might make it easier to cut off drunks. Or it might just make it easier for a confederate to get a drink for a drunk, without a canny human bartender to detect the ruse. The missing human bartender also won't be able to detect that a problem drinker is becoming a problem, before they reach their biological limit, because they're already pretty drunk, they're angry, or just an asshole.
This device makes it easier for a lone person to get drunk. Let's celebrate that convenience, rather than spout nonsense about "responsibility", or some other ridiculous moralizing.
--
make install -not war
My friend made one out of a trash can that he named Sir Beers Alot
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me
In case of Slashdotting, here's a coral cache link:e /2005/07/_defcon_the_keg.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
http://www.makezine.com.nyud.net:8090/blog/archiv
BeerBox Live
it's good to drink together.
-Eric Smith
They need to add WiFi to it, set to trigger 5 pounds of plastic explosives under the driver's seat of any fratboy that gets behind the wheel after playing.
I'm getting really fucking tired of the de-facto acceptance of drunk driving in some circles.
> Frat houses all over the world
Could someone tell me where outside USA (and Canada?) there are frat houses?
We have something similar here in Finland, but most of them are hosted inside school properity, not really houses, and officially it's not permitted to serve alcohol there. Atleast in keg-amounts.
There are no atheists when recovering from tape backup.
They have to make it drunk idiot proof!
That is, easy enough to use so people won't just sneak in their own booze but durable enough to withstand being tossed in the pool, vomited on, and kicked though not necessarily in that order.
One upside...it's the perfect platform for stress testing your new public interface.
So you set if and when it cuts anyone off..... great fun... "What account suspended?" "Yeah maybe it wasnt a good idea to bang stiflers mom" Also you could keep track of those that have chipped in on the party and those who have not. "Ass Gas or Grass no one rides for free" See I could see some fun with this damn thing, you could keep local stats at parties, LANs, or whatever your twisted little geek heart can imagine. (No it wont get you laid, unless women have suddenly become attracted to beer swilling, chest thumping frat types....... dammit >)
It's called the BarMonkey (http://www3.hmc.edu/~bgreer/barmonkey/)
In soviet russia, You ask not what country do for you, but what you do for country!
Oh wait...
bringing the hacksaw back to hacking
Hey, despite the cut off point, this would also keep only paying party members drinking the beer. If you don't contribute, you don't drink.
I'll damn well drink until the establishment closes or until I run out of money and friends I can borrow from. And no stinking robot will tell me other wise!
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Responsible drinking my eye!
How can making the decision FOR the drinker promote responsibility? It abdicates all pretence of responsibility and delegates it to the machine.
While we are at it, why don't we put flouride in the water to save kids learning how to clean their own teeth and look after their own body.
[Oh, wait, I forgot they do that in some parts of the world]
er...
While we are at it why don't we just put condom machines in schools and call it "responsible sex" to save kids from having to learn the social, emotional and biological consequences of their actions, or even waiting until they understand the consequences.
[Oh, wait, I forgot they do that already in some parts of the world]
er...
While we are at it why don't we just put real low speed limits over all the roads to make them "safe" and so drivers aren't troubled with the responsibility of adjusting to road conditions.
[Oh wait, I forgot they do that already in some parts of the world]
I know, why don't we just plug babies into a virtual social system that can live their life for them to save them making any mistakes, and if they do slip through the cracks, we can numb their brains to hide the truth from them.
[Silly me, I forgot cable TV and narcotics form the social structure already in some parts of the world]
Seriously, when did you last get to make a decision that mattered?
And I'm not talking about deciding whether or not your ready meal had the right amount of fat or sodium in it, I mean when was someone else glad that you were alive, glad that you were there?
Reclaim your community (neighbours as friends) and dump the "network" and regain responsible and satisfied living.
or... you can just do what your TV tells you and receive the satisfaction it programmes you to receive.
[If you know what I'm talking about then I'm not talking to you, I'm just annoyed about folk who know and do what "the box" tells them to]
Sam
blog.sam.liddicott.com
The Kegbot has two uses:
1) To enforce responsible drinking.
2) To enable long distance drinking games.
It will fail for both uses. One, I live in a dorm where people buy booze for other people all the time, and I assume most dorms are like that as well. These are underage people taking the risk of using a fake ID to buy booze for other underage people. If they are willing to take that risk, and go through that effort, then why wouldn't someone who hasn't used up his beer quota just get a drink for someone else from the Kegbot!?
Two, Kegbot is useless as an instrument for long distance drinking games, as there is no way to verify the alcohol content in Kegbot. Who is to say the other team doesn't fill theirs with a beverage of lower alcohol content, or, if the stakes are high, water? And anyway, is this a videoconference device as well, or does each team tap out in more code that they have completed their round?
Kegbot is a really cool implementation of some interesting technology, and anyone would be proud to have on in his frat house, but seriously, this invention isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
My "allotted" amount is exactly as much as I choose to buy. "Responsibility" implies that I have the right to determine exactly how much I can drink and when in order to be sober when I'm ready to drive home.
Does anyone here honestly think nanny = "responsibility"? Yikes. I'd like to keep my liberty, thank you.
[ home ]
In a galaxy far, far away...
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
technology can actually promote more responsible drinking because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap
It's both humorous and sad how the word "responsibility" has been used lately.
This does not promote responsibility.
RFID (or RFID alternative) is BAD. Talk about evil abuses of technology.
Using it to take away my privacy is one thing, but use it to take away my beer?
Now you've gone too far!
And they say we're paranoid...
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
Just another stupid idea that thinks using technology can somehow make a person more responsible. What an asinine concept. What they really mean is, we want to use this technology to control you.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
Kegbot: "Don't stop." ;-)
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
what is with the US and university fraternities? never heard of them anywhere else in the world. it all sounds a bit weird and unbritish to me.
bite my frosty cold metal ass :-)
reposted
Robot...beer....robot....beer....robot....beer.
*thinking*
Hmm, how about we combine the two. How about..."ROBOBEER". Ya, I can see the future now. Just attach some walking legs to each can of beer. Then, sell a master ROBOBEER remote control for mucho grande!
Life is not for the lazy.
The "RFID alternative" omits RF, it requires the device to be physically touched to the receiver. How the article's author would consider this an alternative to RFID is beyond me, as the device would be unsuitable for 99% of the situations where RFID can be used.
Not only that, it runs a contest complete with photo galleries for which "team" or individuals are drunkest.
Combine this "contest" with its arbitrary estimate of blood alcohol level, abritrary estimate of "what's too much", no ID checking...I think we've got a great liability lawsuit in the making when someone this thing "serves" gets drunk and ends up walking off a rooftop or going for a drive and killing someone.
Please help metamoderate.
The answer of course is Yes. That's the only reason it's on Slashdot. If I made a Linux-based Kevorkian machine, it would get on Slashdot.
Beep. Boop. Beep. You have questions. I have answers and your home address.
Many schools have "no kegs on campus" policies to reduce the severity of binging. I don't see how regulating the flow of beer from kegs will have any effect at fraternities. Bottle-bot would be a bit too expensive to implement.
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
All i saw were pictures of "Hey looks here's the stuff we used"
That's not really instructions on how to build one.
It's like shoving a completely dismantled BMW to a novice mechanic with a picture of a complete car and a person driving the car and say "here you go"
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Yes, suddenly as soon as you buy one of these things you have your life programmed out for you and you join the line of unthinking slaves that powers the Machine.
Or wait. Maybe, just maybe, it's a weird little invention that people can choose or not choose to use. I'm pretty sure the early models won't come with an alcohol vortex that annihilates all other spirits within a stumbling radius of it (grab a beer from the fridge if you want to keep going).
I'm pretty sure your liberty is safe from this little machine.
http://www.andashdesigns.com/
...is to make alcohol illegal and pot legal. You don't get this kind of idiocy with pot: it's impossible to overtoke, everyone gets mellow instead of looking for a fight, and most stoners can't be arsed to drive if there's any sort of edible left in the house.
Whole nation would be safer if it were stoned instead of drunk.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Frat houses all over the world could soon be linked up in massive online drinking games...
This may look like a stupid observation, but aren't the majority of Frat boy in college, the therefore under twenty-one and not legally able to drink?
I mean, I know it may be common knowledge that people involved in Fraterities like to drink, and do so quite a bit, but any company/individual setting up activities that involve drinking at residences were the majority of occupants are underage seems to be asking for trouble either from "promoting underage drinking" to "wrongful death from alcohol poisoning".
One of the factors in determining how much alcohol is too much is body weight. Have fun asking all the girls at the party how much they weigh.
Let's celebrate that convenience, rather than spout nonsense about "responsibility", or some other ridiculous moralizing.
(Disclaimer: I am the author of the kegbot.)
The comment I made about 'promoting responsible drinking' was extremely tongue-in-cheek. kegbot is not intended to cure social ills or save the planet. It's just a fun hobby project. No delusions of grandeur here.
mike
Why is everything these days considered a robot? A remote control car is not a robot. A kegerator, not matter how many RFIDs and ethernet cards you slap on it is not a robot.
It is another form of control. This seems to be burdgeoning all over the world as we go, and i don't think freedom is about that at all. of course, it is subject to debate far beyond my reach, but, i would feel ashamed coming up with an idea like that, not proud. more repression is not going to help, my opinion.
The poster must of never drank at a frat party, bar, etc. If a person wants to get drunk, they are going to get drunk.
No respectful frat is going to have this, fun and responsibility do not go together.
If a party did have one of these, and the machine started cutting people off, it would be trashed in no time.
This is one of the more stupid things I've seen.
Not only is it easy to fool, it's a sure-fire way to ensure that nobody comes to your frat party.
Bibo Ergo Sum.
Bud-light bot?
The Kegbot has two uses:
:)
1) To enforce responsible drinking.
2) To enable long distance drinking games.
No. You're forgiven for being wrong due to the misleading snippet.
My motivation and 'uses' for kegbot are:
- Track how much people drink (for fun, curiosity)
- Track amount left in keg (how many ounces were taken?)
Drinking responsibly has always been left to the user. In two years since kegbot's inception, none of my friends who've come over for a drink from the kegbot have had a problem with overdoing it. It's possible that the presence of per-drinker stats might influence a need to compete and drink more, but I haven't had the problem.
(In any case, I'm not convinced drinking games and challenges commonplace in homes and bars are much different. I, however, have an audit.)
I'm not sure who the submitter is, but the voice isn't mine; we think the kegbot is a fun project, but we are _not_ bent on taking over fraternies or changing the world's drinking habits.
There's a zillion and one things you can do with data from a network-enabled keg; in my imagination, connecting kegbots is one interesting possibility; using the drink data for diet/safety reasons is another - but neither are a focus of the project.
(finally, we're not fraternity members
mike
-truth
I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...
thank you, gavster. someone gets it.
Here's a better use for them - work. We use iButtons at work for the timeclock, to log on and off the computers/registers, and access manager-only capabilities (refunds and such). All conveniently hanging on my keychain.
All your searching needs (and free money!) - 4Lancer.net
If you'd like to read about the original Kegbot, find a copy of Bodyguard and 4 Other Short SF Novels from Galaxy ed. Horace L. Gold (Doubleday, 1960, hc) and read the story "How-2" by Clifford D. Simak nv Galaxy Nov '54.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
That's funny, I always hear drugs measured in grams.
:)
Harder drugs like cocaine and such, yes, you'll measure by the gram.
Pot is usually measured by the ounce. A "quarter bag" is usually a quarter ounce (although some people translate that as "$25 worth", but that's more rare.. Dime bags, however, are always $10 worth, sort of thing).
Although back when I smoked the stuff, many, many moons ago, my usual measurement was "pounds".
- 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.