Drink-Slinging Droid
A veteran of the TV show Battlebots, Jamie Price has built plenty of destructive machines. But late last year, he designed a robot with a more
mellow calling: offering cold beer and cocktails. The result - a masterpiece of plywood, plastic, aluminum and electric motors called Bar2D2 - serves
up everything but the sage advice.
Bar2D2 proved to be a hit when Price took it to a convention recently, but he isn't finished yet. Next he's adding a breathalyzer and
LED-backed projector that displays blood-alcohol content. Give me your keys, Obi-Wan.
Time: 7 months
Cost: $2,000
Wireless Mixology
The robot has a fully automated booze-dispensing system. Price fills each of the robot's six bottles with either liquor or a mixer (soda, juice,
etc.) and then plugs these ingredients into a software program on his laptop. The program computes a list of possible drinks given those ingredients,
Price picks one, and the software sends the pouring instructions to the robot via Bluetooth. A custom circuit board receives the signals and moves
actuators that open specific valves just long enough for the robot's air-pressure system to force the right amount of each liquid into a waiting
glass.
Elevating Beers
One of the major difficulties of the project was finding a way to move bottles up from the enclosed beer rack on the robot's second level to the
section above, which has an open panel that allows Bar2's patrons to grab their drink. The solution: a motorized caulk gun. When Price hits a
button on his remote, the gun's rod extends and pushes the beer up from the lower level. He calls it his beer elevator.
Funk Factor
To increase Bar2D2's party appeal, Price equipped it with an off-the-shelf, sound-activated neon lighting display so the robot can flash in
rhythm with music. He wanted to add a speaker system but decided that would make it too tall and potentially unstable.
Behind the Wheel
Everything - the motorized ice tray, the beer elevator and turntable, the robot's wheels - is controlled by a remote normally used for R/C
airplanes and helicopters. Price had it left over from one of his Battlebots machines called The Little Engine That Killed. "I took it from the
fighting robot and used it for the loving robot," he jokes.
See the full build process at jamiepricecreative.com.







