30 Aug 06 Automation

If the names Wallace & Gromit are not familiar you should make it a point to get to know them.  Several years ago some friends gave us a box set of three episodes.  We were hooked.  Wallace is an inventor in the tradition of the absent minded professor.  Gromit, his dog, usually fixes the wayward invention.

I saw a machine that made me think of Wallace today.  It was an automated soda / beverage dispensing machine.  The cup drops onto the conveyor belt, goes for a short ride to the correct beverage.  The beverage gently dispenses incrementaly depending on the size of the beverage.  Once filled, the conveyor carries it around where an employee places a lid on the beverage.  What?  You can make such a cool machine and not automate the placement of the lid?

There are many such inventions that amaze and amuse me.  I’m always thinking about the thought process behind such inventions. 
"What we need to do is save 15 seconds by building a machine that will
cost thousands of dollars and require regular maintenance and
adjustments."

I also tend to think, how could we use this technology at church?  So how about automated communion dispensers?  Something that slides out (and makes the sound of a cd rom tray ejecting) from the pew in front of you? 

I won’t even start about the wonderful machine nestled within the heart of your local Krispy Kreme.  That machine is close to Greg’s heart and thus he, and he alone, should share.