Beverage preparation system
AssigneeKerry Group Services International Limited
InventorsJohn Michael Herbert, Bryan R. Hotaling, John A. MacNeill, Scott A. Leclerc, Matthew Naples, Patrick J. Devine
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of operating a beverage preparation machine that permits automated preparation of a variety of beverages. A plurality of stations add ingredients to a beverage container and process the contents directly in the container in some embodiments. Parallel preparation of more than one beverage may be performed in some embodiments. A robotic arm moves the beverage container to the stations. The robotic arm may include a weight sensor as part of controlling the addition of ingredients.
Claims3
A method of operating a beverage preparation machine,
- wherein the beverage machine comprises a plurality of stations, comprising:
- one or more container supply stations for storing a plurality of containers;
- a plurality of beverage preparation stations, including an ingredient dispensing station and a processing station, the processing station comprising a blade to mix or blend ingredients within the containers;
- and
- one or more user accessible stations for accessing a prepared beverage,
- wherein the plurality of stations are disposed in a generally circular arrangement;
- wherein the beverage machine further comprises a robotic arm, rotatable about an axis within the circular arrangement;
- and a gripper at a distal end of the robotic arm,
- wherein the robotic arm and the gripper are configured to selectively position the containers at one or more of the plurality of stations;
- wherein the method comprises:
- selecting a type of beverage to be prepared;
- moving, along a first arcuate path, a container with the robotic arm from the one or more container supply stations to the ingredient dispensing station and dispensing an amount of an ingredient in the container;
- moving, along a second arcuate path, the container with the robotic arm to the processing station and processing the ingredient with the blade;
- and
- moving the container with the robotic arm from the processing station to one of the one or more user accessible stations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.