Finally the solution for those of you who dedicate way to much time tilting back a cold one and not enough time considering the consequences: it’s called the KegBot and I’m betting that one day this computer/keg/refrigerator hybrid will revolutionize the way we drink beer.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Anyway, the KegBot was originally built back in 2003 by software engineer-grad student Mike Wakerly. As ambitious a project if there ever was one, the Kegbot monitors how much beer you drank in one night/week or month, what your blood-alcohol level is, and what your beer tab is. All very important elements to take into consideration when drinking a beer. Or beers.
Wakerly apparently began the project as a lark: writing the software in his spare time and picking up the crucial components – namely a refrigerator and a keg of beer with the help of roommates and friends.
Over the years, the Kegbot has evolved. Wakerly has kept an anxious and eager public abreast of the Kegbot’s developments on its website: www.kegbot.org. And a related Site link at www.wiki.kegbot.org
Basically, the Kegbot works like this:
1) A refurbished refrigerator (Mike refers to it as a “kegerator”) uses a C02 canister to pressurize the beer in the keg and force it through a tube to the tap – usually connected via a hole drilled in the fridge’s top or front.
2) Each beer drinker is armed with a digital ID card that comes equipped with a 64-bit code. When you want a beer, you wipe your ID card onto the digital reader, which makes electrical contact.
3) A microcontroller reads the IDs code and sends it to an in-dash Linux computer — which checks it’s database for your name and pertinent date (like for example you never pay your bar tab, you’re underage or you turn into an unruly drunk after you’ve had a few.
4) If the database gives you an o-k, the computer tells the micro-controller to open a solenoid valve and count flow-meter ticks (2,200 per liter) kind of like pumping gas. Only you’re pumping beer instead.
5) The tap opens and you pour yourself a cold one. When the Kegbot finishes it’s dispensing, the micro-controller closes the valve and tells the computer how much beer you drank.
6) The Linux then updates it’s databank with the amount of beer you drank, your estimated blood-alcohol limit, and how many more beers you can safely drink. It also updates how much beer is left in the keg, and displays a status message on the LCD Screen located near the tap.
Average price of a Kegbot? About $600.00 dollars — not counting the computer.
Speaking of which, since early 2005, Mike has been selling Kegbot components to those interested in building their own model. In fact, his website has a forum and mailing list at www.kegbot-devdevoted to helping fellow beer drinkers build their own Kegbot.
I’m convinced that Wakerly will eventually hit it big with the Kegbot. Can you imagine the Kegbot sitting next to that old Ronco automatic beer-glass froster advertised on TV back in the 70’s? Plus, the Kegbot is practically screaming to be picked up by college fraternities and sororities all over the United States. Kegbot could actually aide beer drinkers in drinking responsibly.
It’s probably just a matter of time before some corporate sponsor looks at the Kegbot and starts blinking dollar-signs.
The Kegbot — check it out — and pour yourself a cold one. On me.
