Coffee Bot
Built by Al Jey
I’m building an autonomous 5-DOF robotic barista designed to bring professional-grade, bean-to-cup automation into the home kitchen by creating a system that can actually "see" its environment and handle the delicate, high-torque tasks of coffee brewing. The problem with most home setups is that they are either fully manual and time-consuming or expensive "super-automatics" that lock you into a specific ecosystem. There is no middle ground where a machine can use the gear you already own, such as a V60 or Chemex, and perform the process for you. My approach bridges the gap between hobbyist 3D printing and industrial engineering by moving away from basic PLA to Carbon Fiber-reinforced filaments (PA6-CF) to handle mechanical stress and heat, while utilizing custom-designed cycloidal gearboxes to give the arm massive torque and near-zero backlash. The "brain" of the bot uses a Computer Vision model to identify the location of the coffee beans, the grinder, and the mug, while the 5-DOF arm executes a precise path across a dual-axis gantry. By integrating AS5600 magnetic encoders for closed-loop feedback, the arm constantly self-corrects its position, ensuring that even with 3D-printed parts, the end-effector remains rock-solid during a controlled "gooseneck" style pour. It’s a mix of materials science, high-end kinematics, and AI, all working to turn a passion project into a functional, reliable appliance.