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Robotics Toys

Kegbot: The Future of Robotic Drink Service, Now 136

Posted by timothy from the can-it-dispense-orange-juice dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Frat houses all over the world could soon be linked up in massive online drinking games, thanks to Kegbot, a standard kegerator that uses an RFID alternative to track how much the drinkers have imbibed and feeds that data over an embedded ethernet into an online database. One of Kegbot's main creators, Mike Wakerly, says the technology can actually promote more responsible drinking because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap after the system detects that they've had more than their alloted fluid ounces." Reader bloglogic points to "more pics and instructions on building your own Kegbot at the Make Magazine web site."
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Kegbot: The Future of Robotic Drink Service, Now More

Kegbot: The Future of Robotic Drink Service, Now

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  • the drunk person gives 5$ no a non-drunk person so that they can get them drinks from kegbot. Lather, rinse, repeat.

    Until Kegbot can tell when someone is pulling, that's not going to be a very effective control.
    • Might be to pour your last allotted beer into/onto the kegbot, thereby disabling him. Or maybe urine.
      • You could still give it to someone else... maybe it should give you the beer with a nipple while holding your dick.... that way you can neither go away nor give it to someone else.
        this conversation just went a whole different direction :P

    • Re:And then... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by brianosaurus ( 48471 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:16PM (#13203353) Homepage
      One better...

      I was at a bar one night. An older couple stumbled in, quite obviously drunk. The man ordered a drink, but bartender refused to serve the woman, as she could barely sit on the barstool. The man takes a sip of his drink, then leans over to give his partner a kiss. But instead of kissing her, he was spitting the drink into her open mouth. I sh*t you not.

      The bartender took the drink, cut them off and called them a cab.
    • I think you're putting far too much faith into the system. Two weeks after arrival it becomes a contest to see who can imbibe the MOST in a 24 hour period, with all time high scores.

  • anti-bender? (Score:5, Funny)

    by dopaz ( 148229 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:02PM (#13203260) Homepage
    a robot that cuts me off? we have to do everything we can to stop this insidious technology before its too late!
    • This seems to remind me of Artoo in RotJ when he's on Jabba's barge serving drinks.
    • jesus! I can see it now:
      kegbot:you have 4 units left
      me:one pls!
      kegbot:my pleasure, one<segfault core dumped>
      kegbot:you have 3 units left
      me:HEY! what about my drink!?
      kegbot:unrecognized command
      kegbot:Welcome! you have 3 units left
      me:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
      kegbot:my pleasure, one<segfault core dumped>
      kegbot:you have 3 units left ...
      stuff like that is what nightmares are made of...

  • obligatory (Score:1, Funny)

    by mikeh9741 ( 808927 )
    I for one welcome our new robotic drink-serving overlords.

    • Re:obligatory (Score:3, Funny)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )
      I for one welcome our new robotic drink-serving overlords.

      A word of advice: Never get into a drinking contest with a robot.
             

  • Responsible drinking in college? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:10PM (#13203315)
    My guess is that it'll be like that bar that installed a breathalyzer as a courtesy for its patrons, only to find out they used it to compete in "who's the drunkest?" games.
    • Actually most breathalyzers in bars will only tell you your BAC level if it is below the legal limit for this very reason. Some will also tell you when your slightly over, but most just have a "to drunk to drive" light that tell you when your over the limit.
      • I was under the impression that it featured a tower of ratings from 'Stone cold sober' to 'Pissed as a fart' and that when you blew into the mouthpiece, your score bar would rise slowly, accompanied by a slide-whistle sound effect, and upon hitting the top score a bell would ring out and you'd win a prize.

        The irony is, I'm drunk right now.

  • what's an ounce of alcohol? (Score:3, Informative)

    by fiddlesticks ( 457600 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:13PM (#13203333) Homepage
    From the site - 'drunk: 3.9 ounces'

    Um, is that a small beer? A huge whiskey?

    In Britain we use pints or litres. I've never heard of an ounce of alcohol. Ounces are usually reserved for illegal drugs.

    Can someone help?
    • In Britain we use pints or litres. I've never heard of an ounce of alcohol. Ounces are usually reserved for illegal drugs. Can someone help?

      That is a fluid ounce [metric-conversions.org]. And i'm guessing that is 3.9 fl oz of pure alcohol. Guess the kegbot is set to lightweight. The Fraterity setting would be alot higher.

    • In Britain we use pints or litres. I've never heard of an ounce of alcohol. Ounces are usually reserved for illegal drugs.

      An ounce is the standard of measure for liquor (ie whiskey, vodka, gin). There are 8 fluid ounces in a cup, two cups to a pint. So 16 fluid ounces will be a pint.

      The standard bar-shot glass will be graduated at 1oz, 1.5oz, and 2oz.

      I realize you have all sorts of yummy beers to tuck into, but ounces is a pretty common fluid measure.

      Cheers

      • > I realize you have all sorts of yummy beers to tuck into, but ounces is a pretty common fluid measure.

        Not here, chum. Spirits are measured in cl, beer in pints

        Weights and measures [businesslink.gov.uk]
        Rules for pubs, restaurants and cafes

        You must only sell drinks in approved measures. These are:

        * for draught beer, lager and cider, pints, half pints and the rarely used third of a pint
        * for gin, rum, whisky and vodka, multiples of 25ml or 35ml, except when they're serv
        • pints are related to the oz.
          An oz is 1/16 of a pint.
          However, the total weight of your drink is not important, you can take one oz of alcohol and dillute it with a pint of whatever else (something non alcoholic) and I would imagine as far as kegbot was concerned, it would only be one oz.

          Beer/etc/etc is not 100% alchohol, so thats why it limits you to only a couple of oz's of the stuff that 'matters' as far as being tipsy is concerned.
      • Actually, the UK pint is 20 fluid ounces, not 16.
    • As a Brit living in Aus it gets worse. In New South Wales you get schooners and middies, in other states you get pots, pints, 12, 16 ounces - I'm sure it goes on. And I'm not going to stop drinking until I work it out - nearly 9 years now and I still ask for a pint when I'm not concentrating!
    • That's funny, I always hear drugs measured in grams.

      I guess the underground likes to use the non-standard measurments for the area. Perhaps in a ploy so people don't know hwo much they're getting?

  • oh no! (Score:5, Funny)

    by isbhod ( 556556 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:14PM (#13203334)
    because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap

    This is an Evil machine that needs to be killed and never spoken of again.
  • says the technology can actually promote more responsible drinking because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap after the system detects that they've had more than their alloted fluid ounces.

    Oh yeah, there's a big selling point for frats. Those things will be flyin' off the shelves.

  • What??? (Score:2)

    by LS ( 57954 )
    it allows people to be cut off from using the tap after the system detects that they've had more than their alloted fluid ounces.

    Let me know where this robot is NOT in use, so I can avoid it. I don't need party hosts purposely implementing 1984-ish automated law enforcement in their own homes, let alone the government, thank you.

    LS

  • Here's Mud in Yer Eye (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:31PM (#13203428) Homepage Journal
    Let's see, a robot that replaces your own sense of when you've had enough, somehow promotes "responsibility"? Not even the bartender is "responsible" in that cutoff scenario - it's the programmer, if anyone. That kind of "responsibility" is known as a "crutch". An early form of cybernetics that helps people unable to function on their own to make it through a task anyway. But crutches don't do anything for one's conscience, self control, or "responsibility".

    Of course, this device might make it easier to cut off drunks. Or it might just make it easier for a confederate to get a drink for a drunk, without a canny human bartender to detect the ruse. The missing human bartender also won't be able to detect that a problem drinker is becoming a problem, before they reach their biological limit, because they're already pretty drunk, they're angry, or just an asshole.

    This device makes it easier for a lone person to get drunk. Let's celebrate that convenience, rather than spout nonsense about "responsibility", or some other ridiculous moralizing.
    • Yes, I think you're right about using it as a sort of external consience, it would be abused, and eventually someone would push the blame for a drunk driving accident onto it.

      But when I read the article blurb I thought to myself why not use this device, or one similar to it, for rationing water, or grain in countries that need it, or disaster areas? It would remove the people from rationing it, taking them away from understandable anger and violence on the part of the people only getting a small daily al
    • Let's see, a robot that replaces your own sense of when you've had enough, somehow promotes "responsibility"?

      Not only that, it runs a contest complete with photo galleries for which "team" or individuals are drunkest.

      Combine this "contest" with its arbitrary estimate of blood alcohol level, abritrary estimate of "what's too much", no ID checking...I think we've got a great liability lawsuit in the making when someone this thing "serves" gets drunk and ends up walking off a rooftop or going for a drive

    • Let's celebrate that convenience, rather than spout nonsense about "responsibility", or some other ridiculous moralizing.

      (Disclaimer: I am the author of the kegbot.)

      The comment I made about 'promoting responsible drinking' was extremely tongue-in-cheek. kegbot is not intended to cure social ills or save the planet. It's just a fun hobby project. No delusions of grandeur here.

      mike
  • My friend made one out of a trash can that he named Sir Beers Alot

  • Coral link (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    In case of Slashdotting, here's a coral cache link:
    http://www.makezine.com.nyud.net:8090/blog/archive /2005/07/_defcon_the_keg.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890 [nyud.net]

  • One more feature... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Y-Crate ( 540566 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:36PM (#13203459)
    They need to add WiFi to it, set to trigger 5 pounds of plastic explosives under the driver's seat of any fratboy that gets behind the wheel after playing.

    I'm getting really fucking tired of the de-facto acceptance of drunk driving in some circles.
  • > Frat houses all over the world

    Could someone tell me where outside USA (and Canada?) there are frat houses?

    We have something similar here in Finland, but most of them are hosted inside school properity, not really houses, and officially it's not permitted to serve alcohol there. Atleast in keg-amounts.
    • You should have come to England. When I was at college, my university had an exemption from the licensing laws, and the college bars could serve alcohol whenever they liked.

      Sadly, I hear that the exemption has been removed by recent legal reforms.

      • You're dating yourself there! The exemption you speak of was not an exemption, per se, but the use of a 'hotel' licence, and would only have applied to campus type bars.
        Many unions voluntarily went to 'full-on', or at least private member licenses in order to apply for their PEL's. (Public Entertainment Licence) to allow the provision of 'singing and dancing', ancilliary to the consumption of alcohol.
        Of course, come november, it's all change again...

  • They have to make it drunk idiot proof!

    That is, easy enough to use so people won't just sneak in their own booze but durable enough to withstand being tossed in the pool, vomited on, and kicked though not necessarily in that order.

    One upside...it's the perfect platform for stress testing your new public interface.

  • So you set if and when it cuts anyone off..... great fun... "What account suspended?" "Yeah maybe it wasnt a good idea to bang stiflers mom" Also you could keep track of those that have chipped in on the party and those who have not. "Ass Gas or Grass no one rides for free" See I could see some fun with this damn thing, you could keep local stats at parties, LANs, or whatever your twisted little geek heart can imagine. (No it wont get you laid, unless women have suddenly become attracted to beer swilling

  • Already Invented (Score:4, Informative)

    by oostevo ( 736441 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:50PM (#13203539) Homepage
    Some enterprising students at my college have already created such a device (albeit not as robust or elegant).

    It's called the BarMonkey (http://www3.hmc.edu/~bgreer/barmonkey/ [hmc.edu])

  • company tagline? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by M.Salivar ( 817090 )
    bringing the hacksaw back to hacking
  • I'll damn well drink until the establishment closes or until I run out of money and friends I can borrow from. And no stinking robot will tell me other wise!

  • Stupid idea. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by TheCamper ( 827137 ) <SporkMasterSporkNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:56PM (#13203572) Homepage
    The Kegbot has two uses:

    1) To enforce responsible drinking.

    2) To enable long distance drinking games.

    It will fail for both uses. One, I live in a dorm where people buy booze for other people all the time, and I assume most dorms are like that as well. These are underage people taking the risk of using a fake ID to buy booze for other underage people. If they are willing to take that risk, and go through that effort, then why wouldn't someone who hasn't used up his beer quota just get a drink for someone else from the Kegbot!?

    Two, Kegbot is useless as an instrument for long distance drinking games, as there is no way to verify the alcohol content in Kegbot. Who is to say the other team doesn't fill theirs with a beverage of lower alcohol content, or, if the stakes are high, water? And anyway, is this a videoconference device as well, or does each team tap out in more code that they have completed their round?

    Kegbot is a really cool implementation of some interesting technology, and anyone would be proud to have on in his frat house, but seriously, this invention isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
    • The Kegbot has two uses:
      1) To enforce responsible drinking.
      2) To enable long distance drinking games.

      No. You're forgiven for being wrong due to the misleading snippet.

      My motivation and 'uses' for kegbot are:
      - Track how much people drink (for fun, curiosity)
      - Track amount left in keg (how many ounces were taken?)

      Drinking responsibly has always been left to the user. In two years since kegbot's inception, none of my friends who've come over for a drink from the kegbot have had a problem with o

  • My "alloted [sic]" amount? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by squarooticus ( 5092 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @02:57PM (#13203574) Homepage
    My "allotted" amount is exactly as much as I choose to buy. "Responsibility" implies that I have the right to determine exactly how much I can drink and when in order to be sober when I'm ready to drive home.

    Does anyone here honestly think nanny = "responsibility"? Yikes. I'd like to keep my liberty, thank you.
    • Does anyone here honestly think nanny = "responsibility"?

      In this special case, yes, I think it does.
      I'm an alcoholic. I'm currently trying to cut back my drinking. I'm not trying to stop completely. I'd like to go to a party and still have a few beers. I know beforehand that I only want to have a few beers. However, after I've had those few beers, THE ALCOHOL KICKS IN AND I START MAKING PROGRESSIVELY MORE RETARDED DECISIONS, MOST OF WHICH ARE TO DRINK MORE. Alcohol obviously affects your judgement. If I set

  • Responsibility? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rew190 ( 138940 ) on Saturday July 30, 2005 @03:02PM (#13203614)
    technology can actually promote more responsible drinking because it allows people to be cut off from using the tap

    It's both humorous and sad how the word "responsibility" has been used lately.

    This does not promote responsibility.

  • Further Proof (Score:2, Funny)

    by gooman ( 709147 )
    RFID (or RFID alternative) is BAD. Talk about evil abuses of technology.
    Using it to take away my privacy is one thing, but use it to take away my beer?
    Now you've gone too far!
    And they say we're paranoid...
  • Just another stupid idea that thinks using technology can somehow make a person more responsible. What an asinine concept. What they really mean is, we want to use this technology to control you.
  • Kegbot: "Don't stop." ;-)

  • what is with the US and university fraternities? never heard of them anywhere else in the world. it all sounds a bit weird and unbritish to me.
  • bite my frosty cold metal ass :-)
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • The "RFID alternative" omits RF, it requires the device to be physically touched to the receiver. How the article's author would consider this an alternative to RFID is beyond me, as the device would be unsuitable for 99% of the situations where RFID can be used.

  • The answer of course is Yes. That's the only reason it's on Slashdot. If I made a Linux-based Kevorkian machine, it would get on Slashdot.
  • Many schools have "no kegs on campus" policies to reduce the severity of binging. I don't see how regulating the flow of beer from kegs will have any effect at fraternities. Bottle-bot would be a bit too expensive to implement.
  • All i saw were pictures of "Hey looks here's the stuff we used"

    That's not really instructions on how to build one.

    It's like shoving a completely dismantled BMW to a novice mechanic with a picture of a complete car and a person driving the car and say "here you go"
  • ...is to make alcohol illegal and pot legal. You don't get this kind of idiocy with pot: it's impossible to overtoke, everyone gets mellow instead of looking for a fight, and most stoners can't be arsed to drive if there's any sort of edible left in the house.

    Whole nation would be safer if it were stoned instead of drunk.
  • Frat houses all over the world could soon be linked up in massive online drinking games...

    This may look like a stupid observation, but aren't the majority of Frat boy in college, the therefore under twenty-one and not legally able to drink?

    I mean, I know it may be common knowledge that people involved in Fraterities like to drink, and do so quite a bit, but any company/individual setting up activities that involve drinking at residences were the majority of occupants are underage seems to be asking for trou
  • If you'd like to read about the original Kegbot, find a copy of Bodyguard and 4 Other Short SF Novels from Galaxy ed. Horace L. Gold (Doubleday, 1960, hc) and read the story "How-2" by Clifford D. Simak nv Galaxy Nov '54.

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