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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."
One better...
I was at a bar one night. An older couple stumbled in, quite obviously drunk. The man ordered a drink, but bartender refused to serve the woman, as she could barely sit on the barstool. The man takes a sip of his drink, then leans over to give his partner a kiss. But instead of kissing her, he was spitting the drink into her open mouth. I sh*t you not.
The bartender took the drink, cut them off and called them a cab.
blog
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.
bringing the hacksaw back to hacking
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.
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