Barobot is the hackable automated bartender you never have to tip

By Drew Prindle Updated 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.

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.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

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

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