The Bar-O-Matic
ME333 Design Project
Team: The Barbarians

Our project intends to build an automated beverage mixer for personal use or potentially in bars of the future. In an establishment, the machine can be implemented at a server station or at each table. Either way, by simply making a beverage selection on oneís keypad the Bar-O-Maticô will rotate the glass over to the machine, mix the proper drink, and return it to the patron.

Each patron has a seating location marked by a cup placement (milled into the lazy susan) and beverege entry keypad. The customer can sit at one of these specified locations and set a glass in the detent to begin placing an order. In front of the patron is a simple user interface with white ìup/downî buttons and a green ìOKî button. The LCD screen from the Handy Board is placed so that the patron can see it to access the beverage menu.

With the buttons previously mentioned, the patron makes a selection of a beverage from the LCD display. At this point the turntable will rotate the cup under the beverage housing. A system of 4 valves and 2 pumps allows the system to dispense four different liquids. Ideally, each liquid would have its own pump, therefore adding more flexibility to the device. The pumps are activated by our control unit and transfer a specified amount of fluid into a shaker cup via plastic tubing. The shaker subsystem is driven by a servo motor that makes the shaker rock back and forth to mix the liquids. After a small interval the servo ìtipsî the cup down and the beverage is guided into a funnel and into the patronís cup. At this point the turntable rotates the cup to its original position in front of the patron and one can enjoy the beverage.

Our project is a simple system that involves a limited selection of beverages but our primary goal was to create a modular design that could be expanded without any significant design alterations.