Robots getting a grip with coffee grounds

You may use your old coffee grounds to feed your plants. For robots, they can use coffee grounds to grip things. Of course, this isn’t about the taste of coffee, but it’s fun news about the uses of our loved coffee beans. I hope those scientists aren’t using all the good ones!!

There is a highly scientific description available of what is going on, but allow me to say it in plain english.

When you have a bag of beans or coffee grounds that is ‘vacuum packed’, it is solid. You are not able to massage the beans inside of the bag around. When you open the bag, air is introduced between the beans and they can move over one another in a more fluid way.

Imagine if you can add/remove the air in the bag of beans quickly, as you want. Put the bag on the end of a robot arm, adding a bit of air so it can wrap around something. When you push the bag of beans over the edge of the surface, the bag molds to the edges, then remove the air from the bag. The bag says in that shape around the object, being very solid it is able to lift or move the object. Fun stuff… and if the bag gets a hole in it you have some beans to make a cup of coffee with while you repair the bag.

If you want the full techie take on the project, buzz over to Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory or the Cornell Online site. These images are from the Cornell Lab site:

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NESCAFE’ has coffee makers and they need to be on my counter!

Last night there was a NESCAFE’ coffee commercial on TV. I barely glanced up from my computer as it went sped through a whirl of cold and coffee drink images. Until I saw a flash of what looked like a very artistic coffee maker. I was reaching for the remote to rewind back to see what must be an artist concept when several more coffee makers where flashed up making dark rich coffee. Artist concepts? Future product? Did they steal something from a art college?

I spent a while looking around for the commercial online. Visiting the NESCAFE’ Instant Coffee site resulted in nothing. Not giving up, I clicked through the different areas of the site till I happened upon a link to the NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™” site. There I found the four bits of cool fun art to sit on the kitchen counter which I can request a cup of coffee from too.

I have several different brands of machines that use pucks, discs and cups of pre-packaged coffee. Each machine does something better than the other and the coffee choices vary from one brand to another as well. All are black and silver plastic with a see through plastic area to hold water.

Coffee for the NESCAFE’ Dolce Gusto line is more specialized than others since it is limited to their own. Most other quick coffee makers have done deals with a variety of other coffee producers so their line stretchs across many customer’s needs. By allowing others to package coffee, you get more choices but less control on what the customer has. NESCAFE’

From their FAQ:

NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™ is a new coffee machine with a proprietary one portion capsule that produces high quality coffee-shop style beverages including Espresso, Cappuccino, Latte Macchiato and Lungo (traditional cup of coffee). The machines will be available in black, red, and cream. NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is a joint venture between Nestlé® and KRUPS® and is aimed exclusively toward the at-home consumer. This 15 bar system uses pressure similar to coffee house machines. The coffee that is used in the capsules is made of premium 100% Arabica pure coffee beans.

Retail pricing:

NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™ Piccolo – $89-$99
NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™ Melody™ 2 – $129
NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™ Circolo™ – $149
NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto™ Creativa™ – $169

The flavors available cover hot to cold, mild to strong:

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Just what we need… more caffeine!

This just showed up in my inbox… Boca Java Atomic with 50% more caffeine!

I have purchased from Boca Java before and have been happy enough to add them as a affiliate since I know I can hold my head up that they provide what they claim. My tests have been in quality and freshness… and flavor. Not quite sure how I will test this new twist, more caffeine. Let me know if you have a method other than being able to stay up all night or bouncing off the walls.

ATOMIC COFFEE - 50% More Caffeine!

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The search for the ultimate tastemakers

Just goofing around Vimeo this weekend, I happened across a video: Espresso, Intelligentsia.

When I showed it to friends and family… you knew who was a person who enjoyed an espresso vs who could take or leave a cup of coffee. Those that were in the casual crowd made comments like, “isn’t that just an ad?”. The enthusiasts got it… a video presenting a person who truly enjoys the art of making a fine espresso. A presentation of the art behind pulling a shot of espresso… you can almost smell it’s aroma in the video. My compliments to the videographer!

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When Sports Car Makers… Make Coffee

A bit off subject from our normal ‘quality coffee’ posts, but who’s to say these don’t make a nice cup of espresso?

Several Sports Car manufactures have put their names on espresso machines over the last few years. I have not been able to find much data on if they actually own any of the assembly line, design or just found something they liked to endorse. Either way, if you can’t afford the cars or can and want to be reminded of the quality in your garage when you have your coffee… grab one of these.

Another site has a nice list of the many they found. Below is two of the offerings, from Ferrari and BMW.

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