This Beautiful Automated Cocktail Machine Is Built Around a Raspberry Pi

Once upon a time, a person would have to either mix a drink themselves or go down to a bar to have a bartender pour it for them. Luckily, we now live in a civilized society where such menial tasks are no longer necessary — if you’ve got the skills to make yourself an artificial bartender. That’s exactly what MentosZz did using a Raspberry Pi, and the result is both classy-looking and functional.

The machine automatically mixes the contents of five different bottles of liquor, soda, or juice into a glass that rests on a platform. Underneath that platform is a scale to precisely weigh each part of the cocktail. All MentosZz and his guests have to do is select the drink they want — and how much of it they want — from a touchscreen, and the machine takes care of the rest.

The touchscreen is connected to a Raspberry Pi that uses the GPIO pins to switch relays. Those relays open magnetic valves connected to liquor bottles that have been pressurized with an aquarium air pump. The output tubes from the five valves merge into a single nozzle that then fills the glass. The setup is elegant in its simplicity, and the quality of the woodwork really makes this project stand out.