Drink-Slinging Droid

Totally Automatic: The cocktail maker can create a variety of drinks on demand  John B. Carnett

Time: 7 months
Cost: $2,000

Pouring: Pressurized air forces booze and mixers through a series of hoses  John B. Carnett

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.

Power: Motors for the drawer, elevator and turntable are wired to one battery  John B. Carnett

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.