Pacific Standards for a Drinking Robot

Neck Pneumatics - This is the weakest part of the system. The Head needs a stronger piston that can more easily pull the head back into the original “drinking” position. The current piston is not strong enough to return the head from the forward “drain” position. In order to use a larger diameter piston a new metal plate will need to be made.

Spout - Some kind of plumbing will need to be installed in the head opening. A spout will also need to be used to direct the water into the cup to refill. Make sure that the acrylic hose inside the head remains close to the front of the head so that the siphon will begin as the robot tips forward.

Electronics - The eye LED’s will need to be installed in the head. Some kind of quick disconnect should be used with any wire going into the head so that it is easy to remove the head for service. Including the head spout.

Plastic head reservoir insert - This part is basically finished. The only remaining fix is to make sure that the hole is at the lowest point in the top reservoir piece so that all of the water drains. A heat gun could be used to carefully reshape the current piece of styrene.

Cup Lid - The idea behind the cup lid is to control the flow of water from the cup when the robot sips. This would allow the programmer to control the size of the sip by controlling the duration of the sip rather than wrist tilt.

Pneumatic controls - The Pneumatic control of the robot is fairly simple. The air is regulated to about 60lbs at the source. The only other adjustment is a set of four flow control valves. Each Pneumatic piston has a flow control valve that slows the air passing through the piston. This allows the operator to speed up or slow the time it takes the air to move through the system thus slowing the action of the piston.

Automation -  The Drinking Robot operates on just two switches. These switches send air through the system in opposite directions based on their position. A single controller should be able to manage the switching. A programmer could use a counter to allow the robot to take a designated number of sips before initiating the return sequence, returning the water to the cup.

Aesthetics - After the above steps are completed it is now time to style the robot and make him look like a bad ass drinking robot…

Also, remember that all of these parts will at some time break and need to be replaced. The stronger and more generic these parts are the better, ideally most parts of this robot could be found at a hardware store.

Good Luck! Please contact me for further questions or explanations –  Alex Blue

We have been heating and beating some ideas together for Cali’s head. Since the start of the project we have had this busted, old expander tank with some inspirational “antiquing” to it. After a little discussion, drawing, measuring and PhotoShopin’ we think we can use it as the main shape for Cali’s head. Going to have to prop it up on a band-saw and make a few cuts to get it to work with the new drink reservoir. If our cuts work out as planned the entire tank will take the place of the mixing bowl that is currently acting as the lower jaw.Below is a teaser to what it may start to look like.

Once we get it mocked up, we post some more picture…

Now that Cali has a reliable place to store his drinks, we are now giving shape to the rest of head. We know Cali needs some LEDs for his eyes and spout in his fore-head to dispense the beer back into the glass. We will be posting some photos over the next fews days with our progress.

Alex Blue, senior ID student at RISD, has joined our effort. With his help and some inspiration from Joel Taplin, we have been able to revise and finalize Cali’s reservoir system. We finally found the right process for vacuum forming these parts. We tried many different processes for making the molds for the reservior and finally Alex and Joel were able to get things on track. Cali needed a part that was water-tight and removable… an now he has it.

During the summer of 2007 we were able to get the help of Matt Borgotti, at the time a student at RISD, to help give Cali some shape. The assembly of the skeleton, building of the the fiberglass sides, laser-cutting of the vest and back and assembly of the counter and coin operator we all implemented with the help of Matt. Matt was able to lend his time to Cali till September 2007, since has been working in California at a special effects company.