Bartending Robot Is Way Cooler Than Non-Bartending Robots
Even though the best bar I’ve ever been to has been closed for years, I still recall it fondly. While I’ve been buddies with bartenders before, this was the only place where I became friends with almost everyone who ended up working there. The 6 a.m. closing time may have helped that. If you’d have asked me then how I’d have felt about replacing any of them with a bartending robot, I would have been aghast, then curious, then signing whatever dotted line I needed to. Sorry, friends!
The Bartendro robot is the liver-rotting result of years of hard work by the company Party Robotics, comprised of software architect Rob Kaye and roboticist Pierre Michael. Bartendro is basically an open-source dispensing system that will pour a perfect drink every time, with no room for error. The dispensers, which are connected to peristaltic pumps that pump out a precise amount of liquid per motor revolution, are also connected to a router board connected to a Raspberry Pi (RPI) computer which houses its own Wifi network. The company has a Kickstarter campaign set up for different versions of the Bartendro, from simple shot makers to larger 15-dispenser liquor monsters. After only five days, the funding stands at $54,200 of a $135,000 goal, so it seems probable that this wonderful device is going to take the nation by Quiet Storm.
It wouldn’t be any fun if you had to go up and pump it yourself, so the Bartendro program does all the work for you. Are you a fan of the rapper Tech N9ne and you want to fix one of his signature drinks, the Caribou Lou? Just input the ingredients (151 rum, pineapple juice, and Malibu) into the to onboard computer using whatever pouring specifications you’d like and save it. Now, any time you want one, all you have to do is pull out your smart phone, pick the drink, and it’ll be waiting for you when you walk up. My guess is, you’ll make two of them properly before drunkenly trying to order a drink off of Google Maps. Take a look at the following video to get a better idea of how the device works.
Just think about all that tip money you can put towards something really important, like cleaning all the vomit out of the carpet, the couch, the car seats….
