5 ms·

DNA Lounge Cocktail Robotics Grand Challenge

76 points by jcr 12y ago

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
Great idea. Terrible moderator (watch the video). I hope there'll be some lovecraftian mixologist contraption to up the ante a little.
JohnBooty 12y ago
FYI to those unaware: DNA Lounge is run by JWZ/Jamie Zawinski. One of the founders of Netscape and Mozilla, primary author of XEmacs, Xscreensaver, etc. ref: http://www.jwz.org/about.html http://www.jwz.org/about.html
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- yzzxy 12y ago
  Well, given that it already occurred and had an array of "serious entrants," I'd say you're both completely wrong and didn't watch the video. Contests aren't all about recouping costs. It's not like the X Prize is going to mean a huge profit for the groups that win it. Edit for context: Above poster was complaining that the grand prize ($1000) wouldn't recoup costs of building and that the entry fee (probably not even close covering the drinks costs) was too high at $45.
  - dsl 12y ago
    > probably not even close covering the drinks costs From the contestant detail page, it looks like DNA supplies all the booze and mixers (which also probably makes things easier on their liquor license). You also get $1 per drink served regardless of if you win or not. Edit: This is also awesome -- We will provide 110VAC, 10A. If your robot runs on something else (e.g. steam, plutonium, the souls of the damned) you'll have to provide that.
- angersock 12y ago
  Wow, you must be a riot at parties. Some of us serious engineers actually enjoy these sorts of things. (also, if you can't build a functioning barbot for less than a grand you are a bad engineer and you should feel bad)
  - prodigal_erik 12y ago
    And that's assuming you tear it down afterward. Last year I met several builders who had been in other events, and I expect to see many of them again this year.
spencer414 12y ago
ooo pay $45 to work on a project for their marketing stunt! What a deal!!!
- throwaway54984 12y ago
  I don't understand why the upper comment was downvotted without any explanation, when it's not far from the truth. Even if the people like the event, it's still a marketing stunt similar to hackathons or other competitions.
  - indlebe 12y ago
    It's not a constructive comment. It's obvious that it has marketing benefits, and the poster's connotations were that there was something wrong with that, without giving a reason.
  - prodigal_erik 12y ago
    It probably cuts down on people signing up for a lark and then not showing up.
msutherl 12y ago
Related: a friend of mine made this a few years ago: http://v2.nl/archive/works/daredroid http://v2.nl/archive/works/daredroid
qdot76367 12y ago
See also - The Roboexotica cocktail robots party, which just had its 15th annual party in Vienna: http://www.roboexotica.org/ http://www.roboexotica.org/ (and of course, my entry from 2009, Adult Mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiKE3lif8Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiKE3lif8Q)
- thret 12y ago
  Something like that could work really well in a place like Mana Bar (a cocktail bar and video gaming lounge, really just a bar with wall to wall consoles etc.). You could have games that you pay to play, and how well you do = how much alcohol your drink gets. With appropriate warnings and such that could be really fun.

76 points by jcr 12y ago

Great idea. Terrible moderator (watch the video). I hope there'll be some lovecraftian mixologist contraption to up the ante a little.

JohnBooty 12y ago

FYI to those unaware: DNA Lounge is run by JWZ/Jamie Zawinski. One of the founders of Netscape and Mozilla, primary author of XEmacs, Xscreensaver, etc. ref: http://www.jwz.org/about.html http://www.jwz.org/about.html

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

yzzxy 12y ago
Well, given that it already occurred and had an array of "serious entrants," I'd say you're both completely wrong and didn't watch the video. Contests aren't all about recouping costs. It's not like the X Prize is going to mean a huge profit for the groups that win it. Edit for context: Above poster was complaining that the grand prize ($1000) wouldn't recoup costs of building and that the entry fee (probably not even close covering the drinks costs) was too high at $45.
- dsl 12y ago
  > probably not even close covering the drinks costs From the contestant detail page, it looks like DNA supplies all the booze and mixers (which also probably makes things easier on their liquor license). You also get $1 per drink served regardless of if you win or not. Edit: This is also awesome -- We will provide 110VAC, 10A. If your robot runs on something else (e.g. steam, plutonium, the souls of the damned) you'll have to provide that.
angersock 12y ago
Wow, you must be a riot at parties. Some of us serious engineers actually enjoy these sorts of things. (also, if you can't build a functioning barbot for less than a grand you are a bad engineer and you should feel bad)
- prodigal_erik 12y ago
  And that's assuming you tear it down afterward. Last year I met several builders who had been in other events, and I expect to see many of them again this year.

spencer414 12y ago

ooo pay $45 to work on a project for their marketing stunt! What a deal!!!

throwaway54984 12y ago
I don't understand why the upper comment was downvotted without any explanation, when it's not far from the truth. Even if the people like the event, it's still a marketing stunt similar to hackathons or other competitions.
- indlebe 12y ago
  It's not a constructive comment. It's obvious that it has marketing benefits, and the poster's connotations were that there was something wrong with that, without giving a reason.
- prodigal_erik 12y ago
  It probably cuts down on people signing up for a lark and then not showing up.

msutherl 12y ago

Related: a friend of mine made this a few years ago: http://v2.nl/archive/works/daredroid http://v2.nl/archive/works/daredroid

qdot76367 12y ago

See also - The Roboexotica cocktail robots party, which just had its 15th annual party in Vienna: http://www.roboexotica.org/ http://www.roboexotica.org/ (and of course, my entry from 2009, Adult Mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiKE3lif8Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kiKE3lif8Q)

thret 12y ago
Something like that could work really well in a place like Mana Bar (a cocktail bar and video gaming lounge, really just a bar with wall to wall consoles etc.). You could have games that you pay to play, and how well you do = how much alcohol your drink gets. With appropriate warnings and such that could be really fun.