This project is to design a revolutionary, intuitive, and absolutely unique interface for a currently non-existent system. This system will be constructed as a Senior Design Project at South Dakota State University. When it is completed it will have the ability to mix beverages with any combination of the sixteen liquids contained inside it. As there is no current system this will be a complete and one-off design from nothingness.

Problem Definition

This project will be to design a User Interface for the Self Contained Automatic Beverage Mixing System or S.C.A.B.M.S. This system is currently not in existence so this User Interface will be the first of its kind. Its aim will be to be both visually pleasing and highly functional at the same time. This will be accomplished by using common visual elements to convey action for instance elements that a user may encounter in their everyday life that with no instruction they simply know what steps to take to achieve the desired outcome.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.   — Steve Jobs, 2003

This Interface will need to be straight forward, intuitive, and easy to use. The system is not aimed at any particular demographic so the users will have varying levels of technical knowledge as well as very varied ages. For all practical purposes we will assume that the users are not visually handicapped and are able to use at least one of their arms / hands.

Overview of the system

This Interface will be a touch screen front end that will in turn interact with a MySQL database which will hold a vast repository of drinks. The drinks options that are displayed to the user will be limited to the drinks that can be concocted from the 16 different liquids currently in the system.

The actual interface will most likely be built using PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript, and perhaps a few other elements to create the graphical aspect of the system. That PHP will then be used to run the queries on the database and to tell the system what information to convey to the relays that will control the 16 pumps inside the system.

There will be several options on the interface, including but not limited to:
• Regular Drink Menu Page (Included in this page will be an option for glass size)
• Shot Menu Page
• Cleaning / Priming Option
• Taste Test Option
• Customize This Drink Option
• Add a New Drink Option
• Search for a Drink Option

Among others I'm sure, but at the current time these are all that come to mind.

Regular Drink Menu Page — this page will consist of all the drinks that are in the database and can be made using what is currently in the system.

Shot Menu Page — this page will consist of all the shots that are in the database and can be made using what is currently in the system.

Cleaning / Priming Option — cleaning will consist of being able to flush this system with either water or a cleaning solution, this may be a desirable option when changing out an ingredient. Priming will need to be done on initial boot up or when a new ingredient is added to get the line "loaded" with the substance.

Taste Test Option — this option will pour a scaled down but still proportional version of the drink so that a user may sample it before committing to the full sized version.

Customize This Drink Option - this option will allow the user to change the amounts of the ingredients in the drink, up to the size of the glass of course.

Add a New Drink Option — this option will provide the user with a page to enter the name and ingredients of a drink that does not currently exist in the system.

Search for a Drink Option — this option will allow a user to search the database for drinks that can be currently made base on name and / or key ingredients used.

Target Users

Briefly mentioned above, there is no set demographic for the system as it is not necessarily an alcoholic beverage mixing system. The users could be from all walks of life, technical backgrounds, and varying age groups. For the purpose of this project we will look at users between the ages of 21 and 50 who are not visually impaired and have full use of at least one of their arm / hands. The latter ensures that they will be able to use the touch screen to interact with the system via the interface.

Our primary test audience will be Undergraduate Students at South Dakota State University.

Expected Improvements

As before, since there is currently no interface for this system there is nothing to improve upon directly. The improvements in this case will be that a user will be able to, with the press of a button or two, have a drink poured for themselves.

The interface will have little to no learning curve and for the devoutly challenged user we will provide on screen walk-throughs and help functions.