Filed under: robots hacks

Here is a special edition Hackit in honor of Roboexotica. Ever since making the decision to attend Roboexotica we've been speculating on the type of machines we'd like to see at such an event. Here are a handful of ideas:

Iceware via rapid prototyping: As we type this post, [Bre] is in the background attempting to build a RepRap style rapid prototyping machine that will construct shot glasses on demand. We were thinking it would be neat to cut beverage glasses out of blocks of ice using a milling machine, but why stick with normal milling equipment? It's ice right; you could be doing something stupid like using a butane torch for your working tool. We then began to wonder "Has anyone built an ice based rapid prototyping machine?" You could just deposit water on a frozen surface to create your glassware. A group at the University of Missouri has been investigating "rapid freeze prototyping". Since they're using water, they only have to create the frozen shell of the part and then fill in the empty cavity with water to create a solid.

Industrial flare bot: Use two large industrial arms to perform cocktail flare moves. This is a similar idea to the juke_bots, industrial DJ bots. The goal would be to put on a good performance while attempting to appear less robotic than Tom Cruise; shouldn't be too hard.

The separator: There are a few cocktails out there that are carefully poured so that they appear layered when served. We'd love to see a bot that clumsily mixes all of the ingredients together and then runs it through a centrifuge to create the desired product.

Those are three of our ideas. Leave your cocktail robotics ideas in the comments-this whole discussion reminds me of those garbage disposal based margarita machines we saw a couple years ago.

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Source: Eliot Phillips