SOBEaR the robot panda bartender thinks you've had one too many
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 9th 2009 7:24AM
posted May 9th 2009 7:24AM
posted May 9th 2009 7:24AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
You have to keep refilling it's bottles it seems very pointless, if someone wanted more they would just take it anyway.
I'm just upset that I'm gonna have to have a sober friend around to blow in the panda's face when I want to keep drinking...
this is a stupid idea.
Yeah, this is the biggest waste of time I've seen in a long time.. GET A **** LIFE DUDE!
How about a panda with a big warm mouth for when you are really drunk.
Much like a robotic Panda I won from David Bowie in a trivia contest back in the 80's.
(Bowie always was a trend setter.)
MANDALAY! QUICKLY!
I'VE COME AFLAME AGAIN!!
Go Team Venture!
go team... guys?
Go team...boo...booooobies!! ]:
Expect lawsuits when someone in their alcohol-fueled confusion puts the bottles in the wrong paws.
"I should have understood something was wrong the 15th time he served me pure vodka. At least that's what the hospital staff said to me."
That's rum in the photo. Not vodka.
^^^ Alcohol nerd: the worst kind
I could outsmart that little bear. I'd just put liquor on both sides.
or just forget about blowing and grab the bottle from the paw...
this doesnt seem fun unless you mod it to make drinks if youre not over a minimum BAC level.
I doubt you'd get too drunk to just take the vodka (or rum, SonicEarth) off the cheeky little bear when it tells you you've had too much.
There's also a risk you'd get pissed off at some cuddly toy telling you to stop drinking and kick the poo out of it.
Does anyone else think this is just a spoofed video? Program a bear to twist it's arm different ways and change the action between scenes. Change the light filter between scenes, Congrats, a cheap hoax and your video is on Engadget!
Have a look at his other videos and you'll see the prototype and the circuit board original, pretty sure that absolves it from being a hoax...
I'm loving SOBEaR, except I'm pretty sure his recipes are a little off, some extreme quantities!
Hi JS! I'm joe, the inventor/programmer/builder of SOBEaR - thanks for the comment! no, this video is NOT a spoof, it is indeed real. If you visit my posts located: http://jmsaavedra.com/weblog/?p=572 and http://jmsaavedra.com/weblog/?p=558, you can see, I really did fabricate this guy. If you are familiar with Arduino, I have posted the code, just for you, here: http://jmsaavedra.com/projects/sobear/_SOBEaRv05b.pde
Thanks again for your interest, and I'm glad you think this is so unreal that it had to be a spoof vid! i'll take that!
I, for one, welcome our new robot panda drink serving bartender overlords.
At first I thought this was some product by SOBE, which really confused me as to why they would make a product that dealt with alcohol.
But can it read PDF files?
NOT SOLD
Every overweight mother above 40 just let out a howl of delight.
I think sexual harassment panda is better
Hey, that panda could slip some rohypnol into one of those bottles at any time.
Soooo...you put the flavoring agent in the hand that the panda thinks is alcohol, and vice-versa. The more drunk the bear thinks you are, the more alcohol it pours you.
Remind me again how this could possibly be considered practical?
Just take the bottle away from him? That won't be a problem on the defensive-laser-equipped model.
lol nice article. also, you could just grab the liquor, but reprogramming the thing would be more fun.
I think the Panda could easily be overpowered if more drink was required!
It'd be neat to mod it to recognize what it has in its hands. You could make special little alcohol/mixer bottles that have RFID chips on the bottom and have the bear's hands have RFID readers built in. You could even teach it to make simple little two-ingredient drinks based solely on what it has in its hands. It could do a rum and coke, or a vodka cranberry, or a screwdriver, or whatever.
Pretty useless, but still fun.
Haha not to be a dick, but I think no matter what RFID chips he has in his hands, he's going to make a two-ingredient drink regardless...
Fucking duh. I'm not an idiot.
Step 1: Put alcohol bottle in the "mixer" paw
Step 2: Put mixer in the "alcohol" paw
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Vomit
But when you first start drinking, it'll attempt to pour you only spirits, giving you a glass of mixer. Your BAC won't increase from your mixer, so drink 2 will be pure mixer as well. And so on!
Somehow I don't think it would pour a 100% vodka drink for your first one..
Couldn't you just put vodka in both of the bear's paws
Some of you guys really take sh*t too seriously.
"Ish thish practical?" "Thish ish stupid"
How about putting down the keyboard, logging off from WoW and have a f'ing drink and laugh at SOBEaR when you take the bottles from him?
Nerds.
for what it's worth...I've never played wow. think it's stupid.
that said, I don't see what's wrong with poking holes in what is clearly a novelty. if our comments bug you that much, perhaps you need to take a drink and laugh?
Well said Eric!
Lighten up everyone, its a bloody panda with drinks in it's paws! Of course it's pointless but it's fun. Sort of like drinking...
Will this panda slip date rape drugs in my glass, so that i find myself in a strange bed with no memory of the night before, a sore ass, and a strange stuffed animal in my arms?
only if you tip extra or not at all
Where do I buy one? I don't care if I can trick it, I think it's wonderful!!
No damn *burp* Commi Chinese Panda is going to tell me when *falls off is chair* I've had *hiccup* enough to drink.
*pulls himself off the floor with his chin on the bar.
Hit me up with another Flaming Homer you magnificent bastard bear!
See, I remember being a bartender and customers talking to you.
If you talk to SOBEaR, he just pours you another drink (if you can handle it).
So basically, he's going to get me trashed REALLY fast, and then cut me off.
Wow, what a lousy bartender ;)
Then again, if you breathed on me, I probably would cut you off, too (unless you are a sexy lady... and having one of them breathe on in you in that method isn't a very natural method of flirting).
Countdown to the day people just put alcohol on both sides ends on ... wait, when will it be released?
Hmm, Maaaaarge... BEAR me ?
Pedo...err...SoBearwill go great with my Joe the camel lighter. :)
It just needs a container with a dump valve, if you try and force it to serve you then it dumps
the Vodka or mixes it with something foul. Plus drunks will be too impatient to try and defuse
it or work around the problem.
Place a full size bottle in there and most people wouldn't risk it.
Or perhaps place an ipod or phone in a container beneath while sober, attempting to decieve
the bear and it dumps the liquid into it.