The amazing story behind the machine

Brainstorming

The idea for the cocktail machine came about when in the vocational school the task of implementing a technical project was given. Relatively quickly, the group (Nick Köllhofer, Sebastian Pegoretti and Jan Rieke) came together and decided to build a cocktail machine. It was decided that no pumps would be used. This created the problem of positioning the bottles over the glass and dispensing the individual ingredients. After that, the first drawing was made.

Planning

The planning went on! The group met frequently and also in the school was diligently worked on. We worked on the design and operation of each element. Even a gearbox and the required power of each engine has been designed.

Manufacturing

The company Zimmerlin helped to laser the larger parts for the cocktail machine. The created designs were made here flawlessly. Many thanks for the support!

The work continues

The group, which has since changed their name to P2D², continued to work diligently. While the parts were made, motors, cables, etc. were ordered. Own boards were soldered and databases, GUIs, stepper motors and microcontrollers were programmed.

Assembly

For two weeks, the finished parts were processed and the gearbox and the cocktail machine were assembled . Everything was tested and the long planning phase paid off. All parts fit together perfectly and even the transmission ran flawlessly.

Wiring

After the machine was assembled, the wiring had to be laid, the controllers had to be connected and everything needed to be tested. In addition, errors in the code and other unforeseen problems had to be solved. This took another two weeks of intense work (18-22h / 7 days a week).

Project Presentation

After two weeks (almost) without sleep the day had come to introduce the school project. Unfortunately there were still some bugs and the cocktail machine was not working properly that day. Nevertheless some functions could be demonstrated. Due to the fact that everything was developed / built by ourselves, the crowd was nevertheless very large. More pictures will follow.

Completion of the prototype

Even after the deadline in the school work on the machine was continued. The group had enjoyed the cocktail machine and wanted to finish the project. All items in the machine were grounded, the bugs in the code were found and fixed, the working project was presented at the Gottenheim trade show and the mechanics to pour out fluids were modified. The next goal was to build a bug-free prototype. This was later inaugurated at a New Year's Eve party.

Presentation at the university of education in Freiburg

The next big event was the presentation of the prototype during a panel discussion at the university of education in Freiburg. Here, the group was given the opportunity to hear the opinions of many outside people and to incorporate them into the project.

What the future holds

The homepage is being designed. In the future it will be worked on making the machine completely safe against spray water. In addition, an attempt should be made to supply the inside of the machine completely with low-current. The machine will continue to be developed in the future. You can find more pictures and videos in our gallery.