September 30, 2005
Smart Beer Mat
Julie Clothier at CNN:
The "smart" beer mat, created by Matthias Hahnen and Robert Doerr from Saarland University in Saarbruecken, southwest Germany, can sense when a glass is nearly empty, sending an alert to a central computer behind the bar so waiters know there are thirsty customers.
The students' supervising professor, Andreas Butz, told CNN the plastic beer mat had sensor chips, which measured the weight of the glass, embedded inside.
When the weight of the glass drops to a certain level, the sensor chips detect that it is close to empty and alerts the bartender via a radio signal.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 05:32 PM | Permalink
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Comments
I believe that the mat is actually attached to the bottom of the glass, otherwise there would be two problems 1) the glass being turned over would not signal anything because the sensors only measure weight. 2) the sensor would know each time the glass is picked up and would go off thinking that it's load was too light and needed a refil. Other sensor chips could be installed to know when the glass isn't on the bad.
None of this is new however, piezoelectrics have been around in touch pads for years.
Posted by: cwes | Sep 30, 2005 5:39:55 PM
what's really needed is a sensor in the seat ( or maybe the drinking vessel itself ) that can tell when the drinker has "had enough", and relays a message to the server to cut 'em off.
Posted by: mercedes benzedrine | Oct 10, 2005 1:55:38 PM
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