We’re in the age of custom-fabricated and do-it-yourself product design, a new way of building robots with 3D printers and very cheap materials that can be reused in several other projects. This robot is not far away from this concept with key ingredients such as Arduino Nano, a structure built from plastic, five peristaltic pumps, and several other components that can be replaced with what you have in your garage.
Main components
- 5x 12V DC peristaltic pumps link;
- Arduino Nano Arduino Nano;
- 11x 5/16 steel square 12 rods link;
- Clear tubing link;
- 5x TIP120 w/ Diodes link;
The project has a total cost of $180 for all the components and for plastic material used to build the structure. Definitely the robot isn’t a simple project and the price doesn’t include the 3D printer and the drink. Because is not available as a kit and because it has a fully customizable body, you have to follow step-by-step the guide and try to reproduce it at home applying your ideas and your skills in soldering connections and loading Arduino code.
In few words, the project is controlled by an Arduino Nano microcontroller programmed to read user request through a web-based interface. The Arduino microcontroller sends commands to the peristaltic pumps according to the drink selected.
The plastic structure is available in digital format with all the properties that allows you to start the molding process in minutes.
Even you can download and upload the files in printer memory in minutes, the molding process can take up to 18 hours.
On the software side, there is a list with the libraries used for transition between Arduino microcontroller, the series of pumps, and the web-interface. This suite of software includes MongoDB, Express.js, Angular.js, Node.js and jQuery.
Five pumps and five bipolar junction transistors are interfaced with Arduino microcontroller, which itself is controlled by your own tablet, laptop or PC through the MongoDB, Express.js, Angular.js, Node.js and jQuery.
If you want to be original with your implementation, you can try to interface the Arduino microcontroller with a Raspberry Pi instead using a tablet or any other OS device.
How It Works
The robot can handle at the same time five ingredients. To order a drink you have to use a web interface from where you have to select one of your favorite drinks and the size. After pushing the MAKE button, the Arduino robot starts the mixing process for selected drinks. That’s all!
This mixing robot is far away to steal the business from a bar and replaces the bartenders. So far is a project from where you can start and encourage prototyping for the next generation of robots able to invent a drink on the spot according to someone’s tastes