07 - Automated Drink Shaker

Team Members

Blake Behrens

Jordan Jee

Bridgette Nguyen

Micah Lucero

Summary

We plan to create a mechanism that can replicate the shaking motion used by bartenders to mix drinks in a cocktail shaker. This will require a combination of mechanisms as the motion is a combination of translational and rotational movement. We must control the speed of the shaker at different points and ensure it only shakes for a maximum of 15 seconds. Any more time than that will result in over-mixing, which can ruin the drink. The video below shows the motion we are trying to replicate. 

Note: From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xd2H2YuNU

Our problem is to design a mechanism that replicates the action of shaking a cocktail shaker with proper bartending technique. The complexity of the cocktail shaking technique comes from the ‘V’ shaped motion profile created. This profile is composed of a repetitive translational motion and the periodic change of the shaker angle to a horizontal position. These motions together make the solution too complex for only simple joints and will require more mechanisms.

Our team combined a Peaucellier-Lipkin linkage, which transforms rotational motion into a straight line, and a CAM, which rotates our linkage to create an angle change to create the desired motion. We ran into a couple of issues with the wood wearing down, which caused undesired movement and the linkage plate uncoupling from the cam at times. Improvements can be made to scale this mechanism for an actual cocktail shaker and increase the precision and smoothness of the motion profile. 

Final Mechanism

Table of Contents

• 7.1 Project Proposal
• 7.2 Design Process
• 7.3 Kinematic Analysis
• 7.4 Implementation
• 7.5 Final Demonstration
• 7.6 Conclusions and Future Work