Bottoms Up

December 3, 2004 4:54 PM

Tired of waiting for that waitress to fill your pitcher? Technology once again rides to the rescue courtesy of two industrious Cornell students. [warning: lots of nerdy details in link...not safe for technophobes]
posted by rooftop secrets (17 comments total)

"We used the a priori knowledge that when a pitcher is empty the pitcher’s bottom is perpendicular to the ground."

Isn't the pitcher's bottom perpindicular to the ground when it's full?

Or am I just dense?
posted by billysumday at 5:03 PM on December 3, 2004

Or wait...parallel to the ground. Aren't they both parallel to the ground?

Now I feel dense and confused.
posted by billysumday at 5:06 PM on December 3, 2004

That bothered me as well billysumday, but as an alcoholic, I merely appreciate the fact that it works and leave all those pesky details to dem college boys.
posted by rooftop secrets at 5:08 PM on December 3, 2004

That one threw me for a second too, but basically when the pitcher is tipped all the way over, i.e. you are pouring the last glass, the side is parallel to the ground, and the bottom is perpindicular to the ground.
posted by cameldrv at 5:12 PM on December 3, 2004

*bows before cameldrv's superior grasp of beer physics*

*finds himself a drink*
posted by rooftop secrets at 5:16 PM on December 3, 2004

*applauds*
posted by sharpener at 5:23 PM on December 3, 2004

*does some sort of action, and then posts that action on metafilter accompanied by two asterisks*
posted by koeselitz at 5:38 PM on December 3, 2004

"when a pitcher is emptied the pitcher’s bottom is perpendicular..." would have been a little clearer.
posted by sour cream at 5:55 PM on December 3, 2004

I find it really, really ironic that this post is followed by one on pissing.
posted by malaprohibita at 6:24 PM on December 3, 2004

Any other Cornellians recognize the ECE lab from the photos? (or "hell on earth" as its affectionately known)?
posted by ChasFile at 6:57 PM on December 3, 2004

Also, if you guys crash the instruct1 server during the weekend before finals, alot of people are going to be unhappy with you!
posted by ChasFile at 7:00 PM on December 3, 2004

ChasFile. I might recall it if I ever went to lab or classes.

I usually ignore the alumni donation solicitations, but now I know that the next generation is learning something.
posted by Duck_Lips at 8:19 PM on December 3, 2004

Nice senior design project. When I was at Duke I partnered with a player on the women's basketball team for our BME senior design project. We built a device to measure range of motions for the knee, nominally for use in rehab. She tore her ACL later that season.......

Now I'm guiding a couple of senior design projects in BE at Penn and while they may not be as cool, they're much more useful.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 9:12 PM on December 3, 2004

The pitcher they were using has sloped sides, so you could potentially empty the pitcher without getting the bottom totally perpendicular to the ground. Best to order two to start with...
posted by transient at 10:28 PM on December 3, 2004

We have often found that one partner (Erin) may often throw out ideas that are in no way feasible to complete with our knowledge or time constraint, and the other partner (Matt) will have veto the idea to steer the group in the correct direction.

I think Matt wrote the writeup.

A lot of fun to read, thanks!
posted by mote at 3:19 AM on December 4, 2004

Why not use a sensor, like gas tanks?
posted by orange clock at 9:48 AM on December 4, 2004

I would think that a device that knows the pitcher's empty weight, can alert the waitress as soon as the pitcher's weight approaches a predetermined minimum level closest to the empty weight. Also LEDz wrapped around the handle of the pitcher can capture the busy waitresse's attention.

Whats with all this angles and stuff :S
posted by adnanbwp at 7:40 PM on December 4, 2004