Taking advantage of Amazon Alexa’s custom skills, which allow developers to create their own voice-activated routines, Audax programmed the smart assistant to recognize voice requests for four different drinks. The video is a little light on the hardware details, but the folks at Hackster.io managed to spot a few components, including an Arduino Mega 2560 development board that controls pumping mechanisms, and servos that raise and lower dispenser nozzles.
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Although the guts of the drink dispensing machine are left exposed through a window with some fancy LED lighting, the contraption is camouflaged as a side table, and features a 3D-printed elevator that lowers a glass from the table’s surface, fills it up with the requested spirits, and raises back up again. Is it completely autonomous? Obviously not, but it’s the added flair that makes us wish Amazon spent its time developing Alexa gadgets like this, instead of robots that can’t even carry a glass.