Barobot is the hackable automated bartender you never have to tip

By Drew Prindle Published May 28, 2014

Pretty much ever since DIY robotics became a mainstream thing, nerdy booze enthusiasts have been building robotic bartenders to help them mix perfect cocktails. We’ve seen dozens of examples in the past, ranging from wildly elaborate bots that fill an entire room, to compact ones that fit nicely on your countertop — and more seem to pop up with each passing month

The latest addition to the booze-bot family is a Barobot: a recently-launched Kickstarter project from the UK that’s seeking £90,000 to bring the plexiglass “party in a box” to life. For the most part, Barobot fairly similar to other contraptions in this category, but unlike some of the others out there, this badboy is built entirely from open source hardware and software. In other words, both the hardware designs and software code are under a GPL license, so you can easily hack it to tweak performance, or even build one yourself from the official plans if you’re so inclined.

Recommended Videos

It’s basically just what you’d expect from an automated bartending machine. You start by loading it with up to twelve different bottles of booze, juice, soda, and whatever else you want. Next, just use the accompanying mobile app to tell Barobot what elixirs you’re working with, and it’ll automatically pull recipes from its extensive pre-programmed library of drinks to determine what you can make.

Once you enter a drink order, your glass is robotically guided through an alcoholic gauntlet — stopping briefly underneath the various boozes and mixers your recipe calls for, and moving on to the next until your drink is fully mixed. It’s even equipped with an upgradable drink database, so you can tweak any recipe that isn’t quite to your liking, and even enter your own custom drink recipes on the fly.

If you back the project now, you can lock down an unassembled Barobot kit for £859 (about $1,450), or a pre-assembled version for £1,299 (about $2,190). It’s definitely a bit on the steep side for a contraption that only performs one function, but compared to other bartending bots you can buy, Barobot is considerably more affordable.

Find out more here.

Former Senior Editor, Features

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Anti-surveillance clothing is getting cheaper, but don’t expect an invisibility cloak

Affordable shirts now claim to confuse facial recognition, although their protection depends heavily on the camera and software watching you

Chart, Plot, Adult

Anti-surveillance clothing is starting to look less like an art-school experiment and more like something you could actually wear outside. Shirts designed to confuse facial recognition systems now cost about as much as ordinary streetwear, although buying one won’t make you disappear.

The Guardian reports that designers are using face-like prints, unusual cuts and infrared lights to interfere with computer vision. These techniques target specific weaknesses, so their success depends on what happens to be watching you.

Emerging Tech

This spinning drone hides in plain sight using a visual illusion

This drone doesn't turn invisible. It tricks your brain into thinking it has.

Phantom Twist

For decades, engineers have chased the dream of an invisible drone. The usual approaches have involved transparent materials, camouflage coatings, or complex optical systems that bend light around an object. Researchers at Northwestern University decided to take a completely different route. Instead of hiding the drone itself, they chose to fool the human eye.

The result is Phantom Twist, an experimental drone that spins so rapidly it almost disappears into the background. It's not technically invisible, but to anyone watching, it looks more like a faint blur than a flying machine.

Emerging Tech

This smart knitted fabric can flip switches, count your steps, and even change shape

Grandma's knitting just entered its Iron Man era

Representative Image

For most of us, knitting brings to mind sweaters, scarves, and perhaps an ambitious grandmother determined to make winter more fashionable. Researchers at Harvard University, however, have a far more futuristic vision. They've transformed ordinary knitted fabric into a programmable material capable of changing shape, acting as an electrical switch, sensing movement, and potentially forming the foundation of tomorrow's wearable technology.

The research, published in Advanced Functional Materials by scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), demonstrates how machine-knitted textiles can "snap" between multiple stable shapes without relying on motors or rigid mechanical parts.