R.O.B.E.R.T.

Our project is called R.O.B.E.R.T. (Ready On-demand Beer Extract & Refresh Tool).

It is an automated system that cools, opens, and dispenses beverage bottles from standard drink crates. The goal is to make serving drinks faster, more comfortable, and more user-friendly, especially when many people want a drink at the same time.

The idea for R.O.B.E.R.T. came up during a barbecue, when several people asked for drinks at once. All bottles had crown caps and had to be opened manually, which worked—but felt inefficient.

We thought: there must be a smarter, more automated way to do this.

Since we are students in a technical school, this was the perfect opportunity to combine mechanics, electronics, software, and cooling technology into one practical and fun project.

R.O.B.E.R.T. consists of two main parts:

Cooling system:

A modified cooling box keeps the bottles cold inside the crate. The box is open at the top so new crates can be inserted easily. Water inside the box improves heat transfer and cooling efficiency.

Mechanical portal system:

A motor-driven portal system moves in the X, Y, and Z directions.

It uses a tool module with two functions:

a bottle opener to open crown caps using a vertical movement

a gripper to grab the opened bottle and place it onto a serving platform

The user interacts with R.O.B.E.R.T. via a control panel and display, where they can select how many bottles they want. A microcontroller coordinates all motors, sensors, and safety features, including an emergency stop button.