One Maker has built his own Internet-connected, voice-controlled robotic bartender with Arduino.
If you enjoy mixed drinks, but would rather not have to think about mixing them correctly, a robotic assistant could be quite helpful. Tony Marsico has had a vision of this kind of assistant since he got out of college, and finally got around to building it as his first Arduino-based project.
After some initial testing of how his peristaltic pumps worked on an Uno (ATmega328), Marsico attached five of them to a wooden frame, as well as an Aduino Yún (ATmega32U4) to control everything. A transistor array switched by outputs from Yún the drives the pumps.
The Yún is a little more expensive than some of the other Atmel-based boards on the market, but its built-in Wi-Fi capability made it quite conducive to connecting the device to the Internet. To allow for voice control, he used an Amazon Echo. This control scheme explained around 1:20 in the video below with a nice whitboard illustration. As he puts it, his device is an “Arduino-powered, voice-controlled, Internet-connected, electronic bartender.”
Possible future upgrades include an expanded ingredient capacity, as well as a website for the device that would include a BAC (blood alcohol content) leaderboard. This kind of information could be useful as an estimate, but it’s unlikely that a police officer would listen to any excuse involving the words, “My robot said it was OK.” Seriously, please robo-drink (and normal drink) responsibly!
For another interesting Arduino-Amazon Echo collaboration, be sure to check out this voice controlled wheelchair.
Atmel | Bits & Pieces 