Build Your Own Wireless Beer Pitcher Monitoring System

Willy K. writes "Technology comes to the rescue when disaster strikes and your pitcher runneth dry. These Cornell students have rigged up beer pitchers that wirelessly advertise to the central serving station when they are empty, prompting alert wait staff to bring another round." Add a few steins and you're all set.

Wow something useful

[WordODD]

This is probably the most useful "college student" invention post I have seen on the front page of Slashdot in a long time. As a former bar manager this would be something I would purchase with very few refinements. If this ever goes past the "gee thats neat stage" and becomes a real product it could be a must have for numberous establishments.

How is this so different?

[MikeDawg]

How is this so dramatically different from the author's previous stated stein [bbc.co.uk] post? Does the original [slashdot.org] story differ that much from stein to pitcher? You'd think the original empty stein could be very easily modified to fit on to a pitcher, and voila! a wireless pitcher that would notify bar personnel that your pitcher is empty.

Hmmm

[stevenbdjr]

Funny, I always thought that was the job of a good bar maid...

I have an idea...

[Anonymous Coward]

What about just using a simple mercury switch that is tripped when the pitcher is tipped to a certain point?

Tips

[KalvinB]

I recognize the fact that I'm in college and don't tend to spend a lot of money on food so I over tip (sometimes the amount of the meal) when the (usually) waitress does a good job. At places like Chili's or Ruby Tuesday's a plate usually doesn't go much over $7. 15% is barely a $1.00. She does pretty much the same amount of work regardless of how expensive my plate is so I usually don't tip less than $5. I've also worked food service so I know what the job is like.

This is nice for personal parties when there's a lot going on but it's not encouraging to patrons who busted their ass all day and now get to watch the waitresses or whoever sit in the back getting paid to watch the beer indicator.

When I worked as a host for birthday parties at a kid's pizza place, the pitchers where the excuse to keep myself visible to the parents and active in the party in order to get a larger tip. You fill the pitchers before they become empty and while you're doing that you talk to the parents and see what else you can do for them.

In the food business that's the way it works. The more involved with the customers you are, the better the tip. So although a nice novelty, it could have a negative impact on the tip for those who use it to try to make their job "easier."

Ben

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Why is drinking automatically bad?

[thedillybar]

This is a class, and they're required to talk about the ethics involved. Of course they're going to make up some bullshit to convince the graders that they thought about it and spent a lot of time on it.

Seriously though, engineering firms have to consider things like this. It's common practice, and it's the reason that most people think as highly of engineers as they do. If your firm is selling this to a marketing firm, you should inform them of any ethics issues like this. In this project they're not really even analyzing it...they're just saying "this could be an issue."

Accounting for vagueness

[toothfish]

To be really useful, the notifiaction ought to take into account the temp of the beer (if it's room temp, it's probably not being actively drunk-- abandoned/empty/etc), weird angles on the bar table, and (most importantly) time (if it's 1:45, there are going to be a whole lot of beeping pitchers, but only a few will need refilling-- and those few will have to be refilled asap).

The time thing is probably the most important-- maybe prioritize based on previous purchases or your local ABC laws, etc.

Wireless-shmireless

[mi]

Why is not there a simple button on each table in each restaurant of more than 5 tables: "Excuse me, waiter, I need something".

The cheapest thing to add, it would remove the irritation of having to catch the waiter's eye, and allow the waiter to know, everyone is fine without constantly looking at all tables.

Airplanes had this for years, but I'm only aware of one restaurant, where such a system is in use.

Re:Overkill?

[b!arg]

Or how about putting a button at the table that says "Beer Me" when your done and forget the pitcher altogether. You know, like the flight attendant button. :)