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Rohan Shenoy’s Weekly Status Report for 3/22/25

Personal Accomplishments

Next Week Goals:

  • Scale out the dispensing system for multiple drinks
  • Plan out logistics regarding how to orient system and where components should be placed for stability of system
  • Stress test the integrated valves and rotating wheel with various drinks and amounts

Current Status: On Schedule

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Arda Akinci’s Weekly Status Report for 3/22/25

Personal Accomplishments

  • Designed and built the drink holding structure using wood scraps in the wood shop. I intentionally used this as this is the cheapest option and allows us to have high structurally integrity. The structure is sturdy and doesn’t have any tilt or unbalance
  • Integrated the moving wheel from last week with the solenoidal valves so they can happen at the same time
  • Here is a video of it: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/home

Next Week Goals:

  • Stress test the integrated valves and rotating wheel with various drinks
  • Integrate Howard’s robotic arm with the code

Current Status: On Schedule

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Howard Ma’s Weekly Status Report for 3/22/2025

Personal Accomplishments

  • Completed the circuit and 3D model for the stirring mechanism, preparing it for physical printing and testing.

  • Recalibrated the robotic arm’s control software and hardware, expanding its operational range from a limited 1/4 of its surrounding space to nearly full-range motion. This involved modifying control parameters in the existing library and validating smooth, stable movement across all angles. Calibration Testing: Link

  • Assisted in debugging and integrating the wheel structure with the valve system, helping wire and test hardware connections to ensure consistent and coordinated motion between modules.

Next Week Deliverables

  • Physically integrate and test the stirring mechanism, confirming its performance and compatibility with the drink mixing process.

  • Integrate the robotic arm into the complete system, ensuring it functions with the valves, garnish wheel, and WebApp.

Status Report: On Schedule

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Team Status Report for 3/15/25

This week, our team began building and testing the individual components that make up the system including the electronic valve liquid dispensing system, the rotating garnish wheel, electromagnetic stirring system, and robotic arm.

In terms of the hardware involved in the liquid dispensing system, we got the circuitry to properly open and close a single solenoid valve for a programmed amount of time from the Arduino. We also experimented and found the appropriate tube size for our system (1/4 tube diameter) and attached the tubes to our bottles for demoing flow. We also drilled appropriate size holes in an extra wooden wheel we had to hold the bottles, and thus built a single liquid dispense tube which we plan to scale out to 5-6 drinks.

In terms of the hardware involved in the rotating garnish wheel, we correctly were able to program the wheel to rotate a defined amount based on the Arduino programming and began keeping track of the state of the wheel in our Django web app.

In terms of the hardware with the robotic arm, we were able to output fixed, linear movement which is appropriate since the robotic arm will simply be picking from one area in placing to another.

In terms of the software, we created the interface between the django application and Arduino for communication regarding which pins on the Arduino and hence valves to control from user input as well as precise angle movement of the garnish system also based on user selection.

Next week, we plan on scaling out the valve system and begin regulating multiple drinks to showcase customize drink making and experiment with timing to deem appropriate volume amounts. We also plan on integrating the robotic arm movement and garnish system, so that the arm can reliably pick up a custom selected garnish. We also are planning the logistics regarding how we will orient the system in terms of holding the drinks up, and height of the cup, garnish system, and mixing system.

Our main technical challenges will be figuring out precise timings of valve openage to amount of liquid dispensed in mL which will depend on the orientation of the system and the reliability of the valves. Another challenge will be integrating the arm to the garnish system because we will have to coordinate when and how the arm will move for different degrees of rotation.  The final challenge, will be coordinating the dispense system and garnish system as the latter must come after the former is completely done, hence a communication protocol will have to be established between these components.

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Rohan Shenoy’s Weekly Status Report for 3/15/2025

Personal Accomplishments

 

Next Week Deliverables

  • Scale out to about 5 or 6 drinks using solenoid valves and the appropriate tubing and bottles.
  • Figure out how to elevate the wheel holding the bottles to ensure downward flow while ensuring the electronic circuitry is secure
  • Map out and experiment time valve is open to volume of liquid dispensed in order to program amount in mL user wants to time valve should stay open

Status Report: On Schedule

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Howard Ma’s Weekly Status Report for 3/15/2025

Personal Accomplishments

  • Debugged and fixed circuitry for the solenoid valve and motor driver, ensuring consistent activation and response time.
  • Refined robotic arm control, enabling it to execute a sequence of pose-changing commands to grab and place garnishes.
    • Successfully tested the arm by picking up a chocolate ball as a placeholder garnish.
    • Designed the system to be adjustable for different garnish types, allowing flexibility for various drinks.
    • The working sample can be viewed here: Link
  • Worked on the 3D printable designs for the Stirrer:

Next Week Deliverables

  • Complete the stirring system design and circuitry, ensuring smooth integration with the drink mixing process.
  • Work on system-wide debugging and integration, ensuring all hardware and software components communicate effectively.
  • Coordinated with teammates on system-wide integration, preparing all working individual components for integration.

Status Report: On Schedule

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Arda Akinci’s Weekly Status Report for 3/15/2025

Personal Accomplishments
    • Designed and built the full circle for the garnish rotational motor to take place
    • Wrote out the Arduino code to operate this rotational motor
    • Integrated the Arduino code with Python so that whenever we are ready to fully integrate this into the website, it will rather seamless.
      • Here is a video of the garnish wheel motor rotating based on various input angles specified by Python. Here for testing purposes I just inputed various angles on the terminal but for the actual WebApp, the particular angle will be send based on the drink selection by the user.  You can also see that it will always take the shortest path given the specific angle
        Video Link
    •  Also, started building the drink pouring structure that will hold the drinks up.

Next Week Deliverables

  • Integrate the working garnish wheel selection with Rohan’s Solenoidal valve and Howard’s Robotic Arm
  • Build the structure that will hold all of the drinks up in the Woodshop

Status Report: On Schedule

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Rohan Shenoy’s Weekly Status Report for 3/8/25

Personal Accomplishments

  • Reviewed and edited the Design Document with the appropriate schematics of valve attachement and connection to arduino
  • Designed the circuitry for the connection between the Arduino and the solenoid valves
  • Built the initial setup of tubing connection to appropriate solenoid valves and began planning out types of drinks and bottle sizes

Next Week Deliverables

  • Gather all of the parts needed for the circuit (including potentiometer, capacitors, motor driver) and begin testing different values for them respectively
  • Buy appropriate drink containers and attach tubing to them
  • Begin testing electronic valve openings and liquid control flow for different values

Status Report: On Schedule

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Howard Ma’s Weekly Status Report for 3/8/25

Personal Accomplishments

  • Completed construction of robotic arm and experimented with its functionality to be independently controlled
  • Helped go over the design report document submission
  • Helped with verifying circuit designs of the components
  • Begin writing Arduino control code for 12V valve control

Next Week Deliverables

  • Construct stirring mechanism
  • Finish and test control code for the valves and robotic arm to begin testing individual parts and prepare for system integration.

Status Report: On Schedule

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Team Status Report for 3/8/25

This week our team completed some major milestones in our project. We got the robot fully assembled and got some movement out of it established from the computer. We also got the garnish wheel mechanism connected to the motor for it and assembled the parts for the solenoid valve pipes. We also completed the 11 page Design Review Document. For the garnish wheel selection and the solenoid valves, we have the circuit drawn out for it so all we have to do is receive all of the parts to actually test and assemble it.

There were no changes to the initial plan from this past week as we are still working through the assembly phase. As we plan ahead of the actually integration of the parts, we believe that it is best to each take on our own part and then integrate it afterwards. Howard will be working on the robotic arm, Arda will be working on the garnish wheel and Rohan will be working on the solenoid valves.

Given our progress on this week, we have set ourselves up to make the individual circuits, established by the Arduino. This will lead us to integrate the individual parts soon.

Currently, we believe we are on schedule. We had to make a slight deviation in our plans considering some of our parts didn’t arrive in time and. That being said we accomplished some later goals (such as the Facial Recognition) to even us out.

 

Free Response

Part A (Written by Arda):

The Bar Belt system addresses a global need for automated beverage precision. With the increasing demand for automation in home entertainment and hospitality, our project provides a scalable solution that minimizes labor costs and optimizes each drink’s efficiency. Since it is a cloud based infrastructure, this will allow for easy updates and remote operation, which makes it adaptable to various markets beyond Pittsburgh, including urban centers, homes and any hospitality venue.

This project can be generalized to anyone who has access to internet. Since the project will be entirely automated, the user won’t have to do anything except input the drink that they would like to drink. The WebApp interface will be intuitive and clear so that anyone will be able to use it, engaging users with any level of computer expertise. By being scalable, sustainable, and accessible, Bar Belt is made to serve for a global market.

Part B (Written by Howard):

Our project is designed to be able to adapt to different cultural and social drinking traditions. For instance, while some cultures may emphasize the base ingredients used, some others may be more focused on getting a good ratio. To accommodate to these different approaches, our system allows for customized drink recipes, ingredient selections, and precise volume mixing, ensuring users can recreate drinks consistently that suit whichever cultural custom they have.

Additionally, our system can be expanded to non-alcoholic beverages and ingredients, expanding the scope for the amount of drinks that could be created and reaching a wider range of users who may not want alcoholic contents. By integrating a flexible recipe database and ingredient selection process, users can enjoy a variety of mixed drinks with ingredients that they are able to pick themselves. Our approach ensures that the system is not only functional but also culturally adaptable, making it suitable for a diverse range of social settings.

Part C: (Written by Rohan)

Our project is designed with environmental sustainability in mind by minimizing waste, conserving resources, and promoting eco-friendly practices. By precisely controlling liquid dispensing through solenoid valves, the system reduces spills and ingredient waste, ensuring efficient use of beverages and garnishes. The automated mixing mechanism eliminates the need for disposable stirrers, reducing plastic waste.