4 ms·

Yelp Hackathon results in an iPad-powered KegBot

46 points by martian 16y ago

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
openfly 16y ago
This is an exceptional hack. Lord I need to have another hackathon soon. Between burning man, maker faire nyc, and "other" I am in need of some concentrated awesome.
WiseWeasel 16y ago
Hey Yelp geeks, this would be quite a bit more impressive if you could select from a range of kegs in a properly sized kegerator using the touch-screen, possibly including custom blends mixed from different kegs. It could keep track of your favorite beer, so you could just swipe your RFID and pour exactly what you want. Hurry and get to work on version 2.0, and be sure to keep us posted. I could see this being popular at bars; self-serve beer stations with an electronic tab, used with a swipe of an RFID wrist band they give you at the door. Flag your friends' accounts and buy them a round of drinks with the tap of a button. Add an augmented reality iPhone app to buy a girl across the bar a drink (credit her RFID account), and things are looking pretty futuristic all of a sudden.
- bkbleikamp 16y ago
  It was only 48 hours ;)
- rhettg 16y ago
  Custom blends of beer ? Have you had a beer before ?
  - wriq 16y ago
    What about Black & Tan's?
  - defen 16y ago
    Once you get to the highest level of beer connoisseurship you'll realize that blends are not a bad thing.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- HaloZero 16y ago
  self-service beer sounds a like a terrible terrible idea.... a good way for some idiots to intoxicate themselves to a point where a bartender might be help responsible.
  - gcheong 16y ago
    I suppose you could track how many times a person has poured over time and cut them off at some point.
  - WiseWeasel 16y ago
    You could have "counselors" who go around the bar and chat people up, keep them safe, etc. Freeing up the bartenders could be a good thing.
ardit33 16y ago
That is actually pretty impressive if done in 2 days only. Did they had a lot of experience with Arduino before? I can't see somebody that just picks the arduino stuff and does this right away without being a bit experienced on it.
- bkbleikamp 16y ago
  Two of the people on the team were experienced hardware hackers, others were experienced iPhone developers. I believe they did some minor planning beforehand to get the write components to build things. (I work at Yelp)
- aardvark9 16y ago
  Light on details, but the youtube video description credits kegbot.org for the Arduino software.
gcheong 16y ago
Nice work. What libraries did you use for the iPhone to Arduino serial connection?
- johnboiles 16y ago
  The arduino firmware was based on kegbot.org's. We added RFID support as well as analog temperature sensor support (normally kegbot.org uses a separate usb rfid reader and a one wire digital temperature sensor). We wrote all the iPad software ourselves. After jailbreaking the iPad, it's possible to interact with the serial port in the dock connector just like you would in any POSIX (linux, unix, etc) system.
rcavezza 16y ago
This looks really impressive. I'm a software guy (Lamp Stack), where would I even begin to learn how to do something like this?
- johnboiles 16y ago
  If you're looking to get started with hardware, I'd check out SparkFun's Arduino Inventor's Kit. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9951 http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_i...
mkramlich 16y ago
er, is Yelp hiring?
- derwiki 16y ago
  http://www.yelp.com/careers http://www.yelp.com/careers
towndrunk 16y ago
What would be cool is if you had a RFID ring and the RFID reader was in the handle to the keg so you could skip the swiping of the card step.
ck2 16y ago
I feel stupid sometimes for not understanding (mostly men's) love of alcohol. I mean it must be the alcohol right, because otherwise non-alcoholic beer would be just as popular? But not to take away from the project which was impressive from a analog to digital stance - I would have liked to see more of how they wrote custom code for a locked device? Did they jailbreak it?

46 points by martian 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

This is an exceptional hack. Lord I need to have another hackathon soon. Between burning man, maker faire nyc, and "other" I am in need of some concentrated awesome.

WiseWeasel 16y ago

Hey Yelp geeks, this would be quite a bit more impressive if you could select from a range of kegs in a properly sized kegerator using the touch-screen, possibly including custom blends mixed from different kegs. It could keep track of your favorite beer, so you could just swipe your RFID and pour exactly what you want. Hurry and get to work on version 2.0, and be sure to keep us posted. I could see this being popular at bars; self-serve beer stations with an electronic tab, used with a swipe of an RFID wrist band they give you at the door. Flag your friends' accounts and buy them a round of drinks with the tap of a button. Add an augmented reality iPhone app to buy a girl across the bar a drink (credit her RFID account), and things are looking pretty futuristic all of a sudden.

bkbleikamp 16y ago
It was only 48 hours ;)
rhettg 16y ago
Custom blends of beer ? Have you had a beer before ?
- wriq 16y ago
  What about Black & Tan's?
- defen 16y ago
  Once you get to the highest level of beer connoisseurship you'll realize that blends are not a bad thing.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
HaloZero 16y ago
self-service beer sounds a like a terrible terrible idea.... a good way for some idiots to intoxicate themselves to a point where a bartender might be help responsible.
- gcheong 16y ago
  I suppose you could track how many times a person has poured over time and cut them off at some point.
- WiseWeasel 16y ago
  You could have "counselors" who go around the bar and chat people up, keep them safe, etc. Freeing up the bartenders could be a good thing.

ardit33 16y ago

That is actually pretty impressive if done in 2 days only. Did they had a lot of experience with Arduino before? I can't see somebody that just picks the arduino stuff and does this right away without being a bit experienced on it.

bkbleikamp 16y ago
Two of the people on the team were experienced hardware hackers, others were experienced iPhone developers. I believe they did some minor planning beforehand to get the write components to build things. (I work at Yelp)
aardvark9 16y ago
Light on details, but the youtube video description credits kegbot.org for the Arduino software.

gcheong 16y ago

Nice work. What libraries did you use for the iPhone to Arduino serial connection?

johnboiles 16y ago
The arduino firmware was based on kegbot.org's. We added RFID support as well as analog temperature sensor support (normally kegbot.org uses a separate usb rfid reader and a one wire digital temperature sensor). We wrote all the iPad software ourselves. After jailbreaking the iPad, it's possible to interact with the serial port in the dock connector just like you would in any POSIX (linux, unix, etc) system.

rcavezza 16y ago

This looks really impressive. I'm a software guy (Lamp Stack), where would I even begin to learn how to do something like this?

johnboiles 16y ago
If you're looking to get started with hardware, I'd check out SparkFun's Arduino Inventor's Kit. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9951 http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_i...

mkramlich 16y ago

er, is Yelp hiring?

derwiki 16y ago
http://www.yelp.com/careers http://www.yelp.com/careers

towndrunk 16y ago

What would be cool is if you had a RFID ring and the RFID reader was in the handle to the keg so you could skip the swiping of the card step.

ck2 16y ago

I feel stupid sometimes for not understanding (mostly men's) love of alcohol. I mean it must be the alcohol right, because otherwise non-alcoholic beer would be just as popular? But not to take away from the project which was impressive from a analog to digital stance - I would have liked to see more of how they wrote custom code for a locked device? Did they jailbreak it?