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KegDroid: Combining Arduino, Android, and NFC to Dispense Beer

Posted by Unknown on from the red-solo-cup-sales-down dept.

mikejuk writes, quoting I Programmer: "If you are looking for an exciting hardware project, KegDroid deserves a look. It is a sophisticated system that involves Android, Arduino, NFC, plumbing and — beer. Perhaps the final stroke of genius is to package the whole thing in a Droid body. Some how the little green fella looks at home on the bar. You have heard of desktop and laptop apps now we have bartop apps to add to the list" Details are fuzzy currently, but from all appearances this is a repackaged KegBot in a very fancy shell. (Video for those without Flash.)

9 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. did similar by ArsonSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No where near as cool as this, but I did do a similar project several years ago. Holds a party keg of Guinness.

    http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a331/arsonsmith/R2-K3G/

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    Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  2. Let me stop you right there. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Drinking beer has gotten to be very boring for me"

    Clearly you're doing it wrong.

  3. I still Want... by JudasPreist · · Score: 2

    The app that had the beer pouring continuously out of the phone. That would be a great one. Impossible, yes, but great. This would be more useful if I could program a bot to pick one up from a designated location and then deliver it to a certain point with several delivery locations. That way your droid bot could serve out ice cold brewskies and you don't have to miss any of the game. No pre-existing hardware needed. As long as there is a path of no resistance, bingo, fresh beer.

  4. To much foam by wizkid · · Score: 2

    When they get kegdroid to pour a beer without foam, then I'll consider it.

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    I take no responsibility for what I say. Even though I'm never wrong :)
    1. Re:To much foam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      When they get kegdroid to pour a beer without foam, then I'll consider it.

      It would be faster to just pour your own beer, and with 90% less foam.

    2. Re:To much foam by BeardedChimp · · Score: 2

      It was quite telling when he said "It's very foamy today" in a slightly embarrassed voice as if he knew that always happens but didn't want to give that impression.

      This is also one of the few times when the comments on youtube are not rabid and insulting, to the point that they are even trying to help!

      Yes the line was empty, but I fear he will always have this problem with that flow rate and the location of the solenoids. For a more smooth pour I recommend that he use bottle fillers. They fill from the bottom. I would be much more impressed if there were sensors detecting the size of glass, quality of pour via camera thermometers etc.

      screamingservers in reply to Micah Munger 5 hours ago

      The analysis of the location of the solenoids is mostly where the problem coming from. In my experience with building kegerators, I have found issues with the gas getting knocked out of solution causing foam up in the lines when placing any kind of intermediary connection away from the tap itself. If he made the line from the tap to the solenoid almost nothing, then it would likely become almost a non-issue.

      majostm in reply to screamingservers 1 hour ago

    3. Re:To much foam by Stewie241 · · Score: 3, Funny

      But why not go with biometric and a thumb??

      I guess you could go thumb now that Arduino runs on Arm.

  5. what a lazy project by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Despite all the fancy electronics and the UI, it still seems to be difficult to get a glass of beer rather than a glass of mostly foam. Surely there is some solution to this problem in a combination of hardware and software?"

    It doesnt even work!
    What they added:
    - a touch interface which downloads your facebook photo
    - solenoids to control the beer taps (useless)
    - thats it

    And to answer the authors question, the reason they are probably getting too much head is any one of the following:
    1) incorrect temperature
    2) wrong diameter / length of beer hose
    3) wrong PSI on c02 injection
    4) its overcarbinated because of point #3 and needs to bleed
    5) contamination
    6) air leaks in tap / fittings
    7) unlcean equipment

    Im all for novelty, but this is crap. If you want to see a better project, here are 358 pages of them: "Show us your keggerator" thread.

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    1. Re:what a lazy project by MisterMidi · · Score: 4, Informative

      To be fair, all it does is open and close the valve to control whether it should or shouldn't give beer. The guy is doing the rest of the work and it looks like he's never poured a keg before.

      • He doesn't use a clean glass. He should first rinse the glass in cold water to clean and cool it.
      • He opens the tap just a bit, this guarantees to create a lot of foam. He should open and close it completely and quickly.
      • The angle is wrong; he should start at about 45 degrees and then gradually move it towards a vertical position. Holding the glass at a too small angle like he does will generate too much foam.