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An RFID cocktail robotics project with David Fine; its first run was for Roboexotica 2006.

* Creation and assembly is in this Flickr photo set.

* Watch the first run in the gallery (Museumquartier, Vienna, Austria) here.

The first run for the External Combustion Engine at Roboexotica 2006 in Vienna, Austria was a success, and took home the award for category: Cocktail Mixing.

The Roboexotica program description read:

A very simple drink delivery system, controlled by RFID tags and which operates using pressurized liquids passing through fuel injectors to provide humans with liquid "fuel". When an RFID tag is placed down on the controller, the machine reads the tag to identify which drink to make and makes the drink associated with the particular tag by emitting bursts of liquid from the fuel injectors.

Vienna was a blast and the show was tons of fun. I made many liters of a drink that was equal parts dark rum, vodka, and dark berry juice. The drink looked like gasoline, was strong enough to serve in shots, and was enjoyed by those the drank it. We only made one drink, as I did not have time to rewrite the software. The code in the computer was just there to test that every thing was working and never meant to deliver a drink. You might notice that there were four injectors and only three ingredients. That was due to the fact the one just did not work after I unpacked the the robot from my luggage. I think in the end, that was rather fortuitous, as I really like that the one drink it made was so fuel-like.

* See all Flickr photos of the External Combustion Engine here.

* Watch the Roboexotica Geek Entertainment TV episode featuring the machine in action, and a full explanation of how it works, RFID, fuel injectors, and all.

Pictured: setup for the Survival Research Laboratories San Jose show (2006), operating the Running Machine in a field test before the show.

Unfortunately I only got to run the machine before the show. Violet was first at the controls and before I got a chance at them a conspiracy between the much maligned "Kimric Cart" and the Tesla coil killed the computer on this majestic machine. Not all bad; I got to actually watch the rest of the show and I am incredibly privileged to have gotten to operate such a wonder if only during practice.

* SRL San Jose show media page with images and video here; crew credits are here.

Pulling the burned drive motor off the V1 rocket engine at the SRL shop.

The V1 damage occurred during the Aug 2006 San Jose show when the Inch Worm pinched the power lines going in to the drive motor. The parts are from a electric fork lift. The repair attempt, now that the burnt up motor is removed, will to be to fit in a motor and controller Mark had squirreled away. They don't quite match but are made by the same manufacture so we hope it can be made to fit.

With David Fine on Sunday, getting ready to run the External Combustion Engine tonight at Dorkbot SF #32. We are trying to fix some leaky seals and update the software to finish up the aspects of the bot that we never finished for Roboexotica. This should allow us to serve more then one drink and not waste as much nitrogen when running the machine.

Details: 7:30pm Monday, 19 February 2007. At: Encounter Studios, 555 DeHaro Suite 120, San Francisco, CA. Free admission, donations requested. Main guests include Greg Leyh and Monochrom.