AUTOMATED BAR

 
 

Update 8/18/07: After about 2 years of use the Automated Bar as it is describe here has been dismantled.  After moving it twice (and with another move coming up in a couple weeks) it was getting to be too much of a hassle.  The bar itself was having issues anyway.  The computer needed to be replaced due to motherboard failure.  The tubes and pumps were old and needed to be better cleaned or replaced.  I salvaged most of the components and hope that someday I can rebuild a better bar using what I learned the first time.


This will probably be the last update to this page.  If you have questions about the bar please read the rest of this page carefully.  Almost every question I’ve gotten is already answered here.  Please don’t email me asking where to buy pumps or parts.  The pumps I bought are no longer offered from the reseller I got them from.  I no longer have part numbers for most of the stuff I used except what I’ve already mentioned here.  As previously mentioned I am not distributing the code or program I wrote to make the bar run.


This website is not meant to be a step by step guide.  I encourage anyone interested in tackling a project like this to use their imagination and do some real research. Just because you can’t find an answer on Google does not mean you should give up.  Good luck with your projects, and cheers!


The idea of the automated bar originally came from a website I stumbled across about a year ago. In October of 2003 Steven Avery, Dustin Cooper and Brad Greer of Harvey Mudd College build what they dubbed the "Bar Monkey." It consisted of 16 reservoirs and pumps and were controlled by a computer and small number pad. The user entered a drink and it would pump out through a series of tubes. The idea was picked up by others and a website was launched at barmonkey.net for people to share ideas about their own bar monkey projects.


In early 2005 I began to gather ideas and draw up designs for my own automated bar project. By the summer I finalized plans and began to construct the bar framing. By the end of the summer the frame was built and I had basic software written to control the pumps from the computer. At the end of August, with the help of my roommate and Dad's truck I was able to get the bar from my off-campus apartment to my new dorm room at my Boston area college (where the bar currently resides). The next two months were spent finishing the bar and software and getting everything ready.


On November 6, 2005 the automated bar made it's debut. For the most part everything worked perfectly. Everyone was amazed and impressed that they could pick a drink from a list and have it appear in front of them in about 10 seconds.


Details


  1. •Currently only 13 pumps - 16 are possible.

  2. •About 150 preprogrammed drinks with current configuration

  3. •Available Ingredients:

  4.       Amaretto

  5.       Cranberry Juice

  6.       Gin

  7.       Grenadine (Watered down to make it easier to pump)

  8.       Midori

  9.       Orange Juice

  10.       Pineapple Juice

  11.       Rum

  12.       Sour Mix

  13.       Tequila

  14.       Triple Sec

  15.       Vodka

  16.       Whiskey

  17. •Carbonated beverages are not in the bar because the pumps will flatten the liquid before it pumps it, making flat drinks. Also, I'm considering replacing the grenadine because it's so think.

  18. •After use, the bottles are unscrewed from the pumps and cleaned. Hot water is also flushed through the tubes to clear out any leftover liquids.

  19. •Programmed in VB 6.0

  20. •Controlled entirely using the number keypad.

  21. •Runs on an old Compaq PIII running Windows XP with an even older Apple monitor (both donated) and 2 K108 serial control relay boxes.

  22. •Costs about $150 to fill with alcohol and other ingredients each time it's used.

  23. •A setting in the program always for the cost of each drink to show up on the screen. I've considered a debit system to pay for drinks and even tried to get a card swipe to work with it. But at this time I only ask for donations to cover the cost of drinks and the price is hidden from view.

  24. •Total cost to build the bar: about $400, but I lost track after a while.


Note on parts/pumps: Many people have been emailing asking about the types of pumps I used. I don't have a model number,I bought them at sciplus.com, but they may not be stocked anymore. No, they are not FDA certified, and could potentially cause health problems, but so far no one has ended up in the hospital.  Most everything else I used is outlined or pictured here on this page and I really don't see the need in posting every screw, scrap of lumber, and wire I used.


Regarding the software, I'm not going to post the software or the source for three reasons. 1) Its mine. I know it sounds greedy, but I'm sorry. 2) It probably won't do you much good anyway. The software was designed by me to work with my bar. It’s set up to work with the key layout I want, with my pumps, in my configuration. Basic instructions come with the relay boxes about how to program the computer to work with them. I really am not a programmer, but a lot of reading, googling, and self-education can go a long way when taking on a project such as this. 3) As I just stated I'm not a programmer. I took four programming classes as a Computer Science major before switching out. My functions and routines are a mess, not commented, and I'm sure any real programer would be happy to rip it apart as terribly inefficient (and just forget about the fact thats its VB6). So I hope you understand.


Video




Screenshots



Screenshot of the bar program written in Visual Basic 6.0. The left side has a left of drinks you can scroll using the keypad. Pressing the "*" button moves control to the right side where you can customize the drink or build your own drink. Pressing enter on the keypad will confirm the drink to mix.



Confirmation dialog. A PIN is required so people won't press Enter a bunch of times and end up with a mess. The PIN is the same for everyone. Pressing enter after entering the PIN will start the pumps in sequence.


Contact


You may contact me at mmurph at mac dot com

 

Latest News

Close up of the computer monitor on the angled shelf in the bar. I would have liked to use an LCD monitor on top of the bar, but that would have been too expensive. I found this old Mac monitor in my parent's basement. The display connector wasn't VGA so I had to buy a $5 converter on eBay. To take the monitor out you have to unscrew the large bar on the left with the towel.

Here you can see the full height of the bar and how the monitor sits under the bar top.

Here is a close up of the pump, wires, and cap. I spent a long time tying to figure out how to attach the bottles to the pumps. I found that if I took the plastic sports cap off a bottle of water it fit the large plastic tubing perfectly. I used the sports caps from Poland Springs 20oz water bottles - and replaced the 20oz bottles with larger 1.5L bottles.

Here are two of the pump/cap assemblies attached to the support inside the bar. The pumps do not prime themselves. The liquid is gravity fed into the pump by inverting the bottles over the pump at about 40 degrees.

Here is the back of the bar. Under the monitor is the first of two serial relay boxes. Each of these boxes controls 8 pumps via the PC serial port.

I finished the bar with a black cabinet type covering. It makes clean up easy and looks better than just paint. The piece of plexiglass protects with monitor and keeps the surface of the bar flat. The keypad is used to control the program. You can also see the individual tubes coming out of the pipe at the top of the bar.

View of the back of the bar. I haven't attached the back panels of the bar yet. People like to look back there and its easier to fix things.

All the bottles wired up with tubing going up to the top of the bar. Only 13 pumps are hooked up right now. I made an error when calculating the size of the bar and couldn't fit the rest of the bottles.

The tubes from each pump lead up through the pipe to the top of the bar. There is also a wire running up the pipe, this powers a small USB LED light to make the tip of the tubes glow when the room is dark.

Both relay boxes installed under the back of the monitor.

Close-up of the top of the bar.

The front of the bar. You can see the computer sitting up the monitor shelf and the bottles on the right. The power supply is sitting on top because the original one died. I did not realize the case was smaller than normal, so the replacement power supply does not fit in the computer.

Made on a Mac