Finally, a solution for those of you who join the way to too much time tending to the cold and not enough time considering the consequences: it’s called the KegBot and I bet this computer / gun / refrigerator hybrid will one day revolutionize the way we drink beer.
Of course I could be wrong.
Anyway, the KegBot was first built in 2003 by graduate student Mike Wakerly. An ambitious project if ever there was one, Kegbot monitors how much beer you drank in one night/week or month, what your blood level is, and what your beer tab is. Consider all the important elements in drinking beer. Or beers.
Wakerly seems to have started as a lark: writing software he was spending time on these and picking out the crucial parts – of course the cupboard and the flight of beer with the help of his roommates and friends
For it is done as little as possible. Wakerly has kept an anxious and passionate public account of the Kegbot development on his website: www.kegbot.org. and a link to the site related to < u>www.wiki.kegbot.org
Basically Kegbot does this:
1) Refurbished kegerator (Mike refers to it as a “kegerator”) uses a C02 canister to pressurize the beer in vols and force it through a pipe to the tap – usually connected through a hole drilled in the top or front of the fridge.
2) Each beer drinker is armed with a digital ID card that comes with a 64-bit code. When you want a beer, swipe your ID card into a digital reader that makes electrical contact.
3) The microcontroller reads the code IDs and sends it to the Linux computer package — which stops the database with your name and the relevant date (like for example that you never pay the bar tab, you’re under the age or whether you’ve been drunk a few times.
4) If the database is o-k to you, the computer tells the microdistensioner to open the solenoid valve and tell the meter ticks (2,200 per liter) to pump the same type of gas. You’re only pumped for beer.
5) The shot opens and you pour yourself a cold one. When the Kegbot finishes dispensing, the micro controller closes the tap and tells the computer how much beer you drank.
6) Linux then has a database with the amount of beer you drank, an estimate of your blood alcohol limit, and how many beers you can safe to drink. It also updates how much beer is left in the vols and displays a status message on the LCD Screen located near the buzzer.
Average price from Kegbot? About $600.00 dollars — not counting the computer.
Speaking of which, since 2005, Mike Kegbot has been selling parts to those interested in building their own model. In fact, his website has a forum and mailing list at www.kegbot-dev to help beer drinkers build their own Kegbot.
I’m sure Wakerly will eventually hit it big with Kegbot. Can you imagine Kegbot sitting next to that old Ronco glass beer vending machine advertised on TV back in the 70’s? Plus, Kegbot claims to be loved by college fraternities and sororities all over the United States. Kegbot would actually help beer drinkers in drinking more consciously.
It’s probably only a matter of time before some corporate sponsor looks at Kegbot and starts blinking dollar signs.
Squeeze the kegbot and pour yourself a cold one. In me
