Question for engineering or creative minds please

A very quick look gave me this.

Code and component links in the description as well. Stepper and driver board.

Gives an explanation on how steppers work, probably don't need to know that but could be interesting.

A more simple solution could be a sort of A frame. If you sit in a chair with sides (arm chair, wheel chair, kitchen chair) a triangle shaped piece with a pivoting cup / glass holder at the top. That allows you to tilt the triangle towards your mouth (supported on the arms of the chair so your only muscle action is pulling the simple light frame towards your mouth) but ensuring the glass is upright because the holder pivots. Then something perhaps a cord or simple mechanism to pull that pulls from towards the bottom of the holder tilting the glass for you to drink.

Keep it simple.

Motors and arduinos are too complicated.

Take something that'll hold a glass, like one of those flexible goose neck arms, and make something that will pivot the glass around the rim. Use a lever,or wheel you can push with your arm to actuate the pivot.

As you lean in to take a sup, you just push the lever to tilt the glass.

Now, if you did want to get fancy, I'd hack a nitrosurge into a straw, so whenever you took a drink through the straw, the nitrosurge would give you a bit of a head.

I am thinking something like an Anglepoise lamp mechanism might work for you. It would take away the heavy work of lifting a full pint glass, you would just have to guide it and tilt it. You could replace the lamp head with a ring to sit a glass into. A full pint glass is a bit heavier than a lamp head, so if you used an actual Anglepoise I think you might have to replace the springs with stronger ones.

There is a variant of the mechanism which uses a counterweight instead of a spring which might work better (see the wiki link below). One problem is that the weight of your glass will decrease as you drink it, so it would get harder to control as it empties. It might help to use a heavier than normal glass so that the liquid makes up a smaller proportion of the overall weight of (glass plus liquid). The base might also need to have additional weight to keep it stable.

You can buy Anglepoise or similar lamps secondhand on adverts or ebay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced-arm_lamp

Someone has even built a mechanism in Lego: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcBl9cXVKaU

Hi Ginger.

Sorry you are going through this.

I am inherently lazy, with an engineering mindset, so sometimes come up with simple solutions to allow me feed my laziness😁

When you have your pint, are you sitting at a table like that in a kitchen, with a solid chair, or couch or mobility chair/wheelchair, or other?

Is it always in the same location in home? As in, if it was a pole fixed to table/floor/ceiling/wall...

I feel that we may be looking at something with a very rigid superstructure.

I have discounted anglepoise frames, because the moments from a pint in motion and counter forces from mouth of a drinker, just seem to be a recipe for a mess.

It's not complex to move a stepper with arduino.

But the human factors are very difficult. Tipping the glass at the right speed to get a sip, but not too much.. sometimes you want a gulp, sometimes you want a small sip. The liquid in the glass moves at different speeds depending on the tilt angle etc etc.

Dunno on sponsor side. They're all human too and have access to social responsibility funds...

Anyhow, thanks for extra info. Thinking PC monitor pole clamp to table as a starting point.

Would your kitchen table be able to support a g-clamp? Like it's not plastic or glass?

How do you fill it? One of those taps with a hose built in maybe 🤔

In fairness some other posters have suggested similar too regards anglepoise and microphone arm up above in other posts.

Just started looking at gas spring monitor arms and they would likely cover somes axes.

If we envisage a pint glass in a cradle at lip level, it needs to raise at back, with fulcrum close to and below glass rim, to be drunk from.

Ideas?

Ginger. Hate asking, but you said it is a lifting issue.

But could you envisage having strength to squeeze a rubber bulb (think blood pressure type of old) lying on a table connected to tube, to tilt glass each time?

Thinking this way, as air is a good way to dampen and absorb shakes.

Ok I am sorry. I really think we can work something.

Maybe a foot pedal instead, or a air bag that you could press an elbow down onto?

I'm thinking something that doesn't require a lot of fine motor control but still allows for precise control

Maybe even just a long handle would be enough, it's got a lot of leverage so doesn't require significant strength, and also a large movement of the handle translates to a smaller tilt of the cradle and glass, so easy to control

I have it in my head but I'm afraid to put it to paper given my drawing skills 😂

I'll see what I can do tomorrow

But if you imagine something like a monitor arm with a cradle on it like @Andrea B. described, then just a long handle coming out the bottom

You put the glass in the cradle, then when you want a drink you rotate the arm to bring the glass towards your face then push the lever at the bottom to tilt the glass and take a drink

When you're done you just release the lever and the glass tilts back to vertical, and push the arm out of the way so it doesn't obstruct the TV

This is probably a good example of the kind of arm I'm speaking about

The "elbow" pivots around the vertical axis, so it's fairly easy to rotate the cradle to and from you when you want a drink

With the best will in the world to those who have suggests, messing about with Arduino's and stepper motors to generate a usable, safe device is fraught with problems. Power supplies, chargers, batteries, waterproofing, etc. Off the shelf is the only way to go.

The cheapest way to get something to tilt a glass, in my opinion would be to buy a second hand camera gimbal.

You need to be able to make at least two movements.

1) rotate the glass about it's rim which the gimbal can do, with a modified mount for the glass rather than camera. Some even have remote controls.

2) move the glass horizontally to come closer to your mouth. For this I think the best option might to be used a spring loaded, but tall pole. Like what is used on some signs to allow them to comply with the wind. It would move in an arc, yes, but would be simple, and the camera gimbal would keep the pint level as you pulled it toward you.

For a trial, you could rent a DJI gimbal from a number of different photography shops around the country. It would then need some testing, in order to position the pint correctly (ie: as neutrally buoyant as possible, while rotating about the rim)

https://www.mpb.com/en-eu/product/dji-rsc-2/sku-2087309?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=EU%7CGoogle%7CBuy%7CPmax%7CNew%7CPmax%7CAll%7CAll%7CIE%7CEN&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzP_Owb7PgQMVSeLtCh3qkw7YEAQYASABEgLbavD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

To be honest, this is a prime time of year too, to approach any nearby engineering colleges, who I'm sure would be more than happy to help out with 3D printing, some machining, and give someone a project out of it, and importantly help others in future. Where are you based?

Did they say why - geographical reasons or they had nothing suitable?

Sod that.

I hope some of the engineering minds on here can get something sorted for you.

Have you tried contacting Guinness directly?

Keep us updated.

Would you consider a non nitro-headed stout (like O'Haras in bottles) as an alternative to Guinness? Might make it easier to have the pint in a fixed position, with a straw for drinking.

If your fine motor skills are degrading, I think anything that involves positioning or leveraging the pint might become very frustrating over time. Lots of spilled beer and swearing, neither due to the football! Powered options will be overly complex and still not replicate the supping-a-pint motion. Something simple like a straw might help you retain both beer and some autonomy.

Best of luck with this, really hope you find something that works for you.