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An Open Source Coffee Machine

Posted by timothy on Wed Dec 10, 2008 01:56 PM
from the quite-entirely-unlike-tea dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Open Source Coffee Machine [video link] is a recycled coffee machine, controlled by a PC running Beremiz, and using some MicroMod CANopen I/O nodes from Peak-System. This machine have been prepared by Peak-System and Lolitech for SCS-Paris-08 exhibition. It served free coffee during four days at Peak-System's booth, and has been donated to IUT of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France, so that students can have fun practicing automation."
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  • Gratis (Score:5, Funny)

    by rlp (11898) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @01:57PM (#26063929)

    Free as in coffee?

  • Huh (Score:5, Funny)

    by illumastorm (172101) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @01:59PM (#26063975)

    I thought a open source coffee maker would be running on Java

  • I'm pretty sure "push button on Mr. Coffee" is open source already.

      • It isn't even a "coffee machine" it is a drink dispenser. Leave it to the French to build something this complicated

        You've clearly never seen one of these [myflavia.com].

        We got them in our office this year. When one broke down (after two days) they had two technicians in working on it for half a day until they just replaced it. When it was open, it had a ridiculous amount of stuff which looks more like it belongs inside of a computer than a coffee maker. It really is a ridiculously over-engineered thing, and it uses co

  • LoLi (Score:3, Funny)

    by AkaKaryuu (1062882) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:01PM (#26064007)
    I think editing the name of LoLiTech would be beneficial for such people who read that as "Loli-tech".

    I for one was extremely confused.
      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        Um, no thats lol-cat, loli, well thats differnt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolicon [wikipedia.org]
        • Re:LoLi (Score:5, Informative)

          by oodaloop (1229816) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:14PM (#26064199) Homepage
          Thanks for the NSFW tag there. Much appreciated. Now when I'm asked why I was checking out that page on wikipedia, I'll have to explain what slashdot is, what an open source coffee maker is, what a lolcat is, and what icanhascheezburger.com is to justify why I went there on company time. Should be fun.
          • Re:LoLi (Score:5, Funny)

            by jollyreaper (513215) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:39PM (#26064541)

            Thanks for the NSFW tag there. Much appreciated. Now when I'm asked why I was checking out that page on wikipedia, I'll have to explain what slashdot is, what an open source coffee maker is, what a lolcat is, and what icanhascheezburger.com is to justify why I went there on company time. Should be fun.

            Oodaloop's boss: I am interested in your newsletter concerning those topics and would like to learn more.

          • What are you talking about?

            Nothing NSFW in that link. Unless Wikipedia has a rotating image in the upper right corner, all I saw was a bunch of kids in poofy "granny" undies. Looked like late 19th, early 20th century bathing suits. About as UNsexy as you can get. What in the world was NSFW about that?

            • What in the world was NSFW about that?

              You might not have a problem with it, but many others may. Especially in the overly-sensitive corporate world.

            • Boss may think you are now a pedo. Not safe for your life position more than anything.

          • That's simple..

            A popup appeared and I clicked on it. Then I started clicking on everything I could see. That's what you are supposed to do right? Click on everything?

            Oh and what did it mean when It asked to install SmitFraud and Weatherbug?

  • I'm at work and can't access the site, and TFA is mighty short on details. Coffee makers are pretty generic for the most part, and have been around long enough that any patents on their tech would have long ago run out.

    And coffee makers are decidedly low tech, even moreso than the old fashioned percolators that you can brew coffee on a stovetop or camp fire with. It's simply a heating element that heats the water which runs through the coffee.

    So would someone with access to the site please tell me what I'm

    • This isn't a coffee pot, it's a bit machine with a touch-screen LCD (with only 1 button on the screen, apparently) that has tubes and containers and fills a single cup half full at a time.

      What you're missing here is that this is just some geeky project that nobody cares about except the creators.

      • What you're missing here is that this is just some geeky project that nobody cares about except the creators.

        Gee, geeks put ridiculous amount of technology into the problem of making a cup of coffee. Film at 11.

        I mean, when web cams first came out, people were putting them next to coffee machines [cam.ac.uk] to be able to know if there's a pot on.

        This isn't exactly a new phenomenon. :-P

        Cheers

    • You are missing me trying to figure out what is open about it. I get Beremiz but the software on the Peak-System doesn't appear to be, at least not all of it. I think maybe the firmware for the IO modules is but I'm not positive.

      As for the machine itself, it is more along the lines of a commercial coffee vending machine. Touch a screeen to, I assume, pick the drink you want, and a PC, via IO boards, starts and stops the appropriate field devices to fill the cup.

      It would be nice to see some openness come to

      • Easy there. A good deal of the fieldbuses in use these days are actually open standards. Especially the successful ones. Ethernet/IP and BACnet are good examples. I have participated in some of this standards work myself and You don't even need an invite! That's fairly open IMNSHO.

        I do find it puzzling why You would want a null modem cable for CANopen since it runs on EIA-485 (also know as RS-485).

        • Many of them are, I'll add Profibus, but Allen Bradley is very popular in the US and they are still selling a lot of proprietary IO.

          I don't want a null modem cable at the moment, but if it was 1998 and I wanted to connect my PC's serial port to a SLC5/03 I'd need a null modem cable, only Allen Bradley didn't call it a null modem cable they called it a 1747-CP3 and they wanted something like $200 for it.

          I recall carrying around pinout diagrams for half the cables in their catalog just in case I ever ran into

    • by shivamib (1034310) <leonardobighetti@NoSpam.gmail.com> on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:21PM (#26064279)

      So would someone with access to the site please tell me what I'm missing? Thanks.

      TFA is a video showing an attempt at building a Nutrimatic dispenser to produce a cup of coffea. Instead, it invariably produces a concotion that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.

      Not really my cup of tea.

      • Maybe if you took the time to explain how coffee is grown, how it is hand picked and roasted, etc. you would get the perfect cup of coffee from it.
  • Why? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Jabbrwokk (1015725) <grant,j,warkentin&gmail,com> on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:12PM (#26064171) Homepage Journal
    Really, why? It's simple. Open machine. Put in coffee and water. Flip switch. Wait. Enjoy. Why build a convoluted contraption to do something so simple? I know that's not the slashdot way, but c'mon. What's next? An open-source potato peeler that allows you root access to your root vegetables?
    • "why build a convoluted contraption to do something so simple?"

      Cause you can!

    • This is the Killer-App we've been waiting for to justify IPv6!
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      It's not the home type machine. This looks more like the vending machine that you see in a public place where you put in money and select the type of coffee. the machine dispences a paper cup and then makes one cup of coffee, trea, hot chocolate or whatver.

      The real purpose of the machine is to reach people how to write software that controls machines. it purposly uses some interface that are used on factory floors

      They could have used as a teaching device a machine that bends tubing to make automotive or

    • An open source potato peeler would be awesome if I could just pull some potatoes out of a bag and put them in a chute and forget about it. No sense getting your hands dirty peeling taters.

      Also, the coffee machine should be piped into the water system so all I need to do is add coffee. If I can somehow skip the shopping for coffee, putting it in the chute part and actually having to press a button, then I'd be even more pleased. I just want to wake up and drink my coffee. The same applies to cereal (or o

      • An open source potato peeler would be awesome if I could just pull some potatoes out of a bag and put them in a chute and forget about it. No sense getting your hands dirty peeling taters.

        Why peel potatos? The peels are delicious, and that's where most of the vitamins are. Just pop out the eyes, chop, and cook.

  • Caffine-Related Tech (Score:3, Interesting)

    by lobiusmoop (305328) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:13PM (#26064183) Homepage

    Reminds me of the world's first webcam [cam.ac.uk] at Cambridge University.

  • If GPL, I'm not sure they want the modified source my body expels after drinking...

  • Well... (Score:2, Interesting)

    ...does it support HTCPCP [wikipedia.org]?
  • by gillbates (106458) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:22PM (#26064291) Homepage Journal
    A machine which automatically makes coffee, which powers the programmers who write the code for a machine which automatically makes coffee...
  • by sunderland56 (621843) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:27PM (#26064373)
    Cue the FSF complaining about the beans being proprietary in 3... 2... 1...
    • Coffee beans aren't proprietary. Unless, of course, they've bben genetically engineered by Monsanto. AFAIK all coffee beans are free (as in speech).

  • 1) Make Automatic Coffee Maker
    2) Push Button
    3) Drink Coffee
    4) ????
    5) HYPER!!!!!!

    • "RFC 2324 HTCPCP/1.0 1 April 1998

            Putting coffee grounds into Internet plumbing may result in clogged
            plumbing, which would entail the services of an Internet Plumber
            [PLUMB], who would, in turn, require an Internet Plumber's Helper."

      I KNEW it! The Internet Is a bunch of tubes! He was right!

      OMG! WFT! The bastards!

  • by bigredradio (631970) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @02:40PM (#26064571) Homepage Journal
    Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP/1.0)
    http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2324.txt [ietf.org]
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      Wow, I haven't read this thing in ages, but this protocol is HORRIBLY restrictive. No thought was given to extensibility at all. The coffee pot should really respond to an incoming request responding with a freeform list of supported modifiers, so the client can have processing to resolve compatibility issues. No worry about being restricted a mere 4 types of alcohol or any such silliness. IETF usually comes up with better designed protocols than this...I guess they didn't have enough coffee or somethin
  • my mod for brewing better hot coffee has already been downloaded over 1 million times
  • by operagost (62405) on Wednesday December 10 2008, @03:04PM (#26064969) Homepage Journal
    "Recycled coffee?" Where I come from, that's called "pee pee."
  • Seeing this makes me want a coffee machine which has translucent or transparent sides so that you can see what it is doing inside. That would be a step closer to the Geek's dream coffee maker.

  • Does it use the ESE Open Standard Coffee Pods though?

    http://www.1stincoffee.com/illy-pods.htm [1stincoffee.com]

  • Call me when they open source a milkshake machine.