Video: Arduino & Raspberry Pi Drink-Mixing Robot

For convenience or pageantry, a drink-bot is a great addition to the next big get-together. That is why I built the Drinkmotizer, an Arduino and Raspberry Pi packed party-fueler.

The version I built is four feet long. It can hold up to 16 bottles and has a chaser station at the end. The cup platform movement is derived from my experience with industrial CNC lathes. In the video below, you can see that I have a 2-start 4-TPI leadscrew doing all the movement. The stepper motor I used was in the 90-oz/inch range. If I changed the stepper motor out with something more powerful, I could move it much faster. The little stepper I used tried really hard, but at higher speeds it had a tendency to slip due to friction of the coupler nut.

I was asked, "Why not use pressure for all the bottles?" and "There are other bar-bots that spray drinks out to a single spot, so why do I want Drinkmotizer?"

It's simple, bottles are classy. Ask yourself, would James Bond get a drink from a glorified self-serve soda machine? I wanted to keep the liquors in their original bottles. I also wanted to see the liquid pour out and the bubbles rise.

Aesthetically speaking, it's fun to watch the drink move down the line gathering its components. With a little Raspberry Pi and Arduino know-how, and a few power tools, anyone can build a Drinkmotizer of his or her own. At least that was my supreme goal behind it all. If you have trouble or need parts, let us know in the comments section below.

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