No Bottle Opener, No Problem: This Robot Will Crack Open The Brew

April 24, 2002

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Life just got even easier for the family couch potato.

Eliminating one of last requirements for effort from the channel-surfing-on-the-recliner routine so common among many Americans, a University of Florida engineering student has invented a robot that automatically opens beer bottles.

Dubbed ABOR, for Autonomous Beer-Opening Robot, the contraption bellies up to a bottle on a coffee table or bar, props a church key under the cap and sends it sailing into the air. The machine’s last move is to back away from the bottle, giving the drinker an easy grab.

“I was trying to do something that was unusual and had never been done before,” said Jean-Philippe Clerc, a master’s student in mechanical engineering who built the robot as part of a UF class in robot design and construction.

ABOR, which is equally adept at opening screw-top and regular beer bottles, doesn’t require conversation or tips. But this bare-essentials bartender is not necessarily low maintenance. The robot required 150 parts, 60 feet of wiring, four months of work – and 134 beers “for calibration and testing purposes,” Clerc said.

Clerc, a French citizen who hails from the French Caribbean island of Guadalupe, insists he doesn’t care much for beer.

“I like wine and champagne with a good dinner, but I’m not really big on beer,” he said. “Maybe I will be after this project.”

Clerc built ABOR as part of UF’s Intelligent Machine Design Laboratory class. Some 23 undergraduate and graduate engineering students built robots in the course, which is intended to help students in electrical and mechanical engineering put their class work to practical use.

“The primary goal is the education they get by building a real device – it allows them to put together their whole curriculum and find out what they can do,” said Tony Arroyo, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The student-designed robots often seem centered around convenience or entertainment. Other robots completed this year include those that play tag, serve drinks – even one that mimics cartoon character Homer Simpson by flipping through TV channels and belting out some of Simpson’s most obnoxious lines.

Arroyo said the focus on the light side of robotics is natural and productive for the students, many of whom are seniors and ready to graduate.

“The last chance you have for fun is at the university. When you go out to work, it’s serious,” he says. “Ultimately, you get as much education if you design a leisure robot as if you design a serious robot.”