This project was completed during a semester-long senior design course (advanced embedded systems). Our 5 person multi-disciplinary team worked hard to bring this idea to market in 4 short months. This was the most enjoyable, most unexpected, and most rewarding project I worked on during college.
The Brewhob is an espresso machine control board designed to bring old espresso machines into the age of IoT and data analytics. It features plug-and-play installation with any espresso machine that currently uses a Gicar 3d5, an outdated and overpriced control board.
Espresso machines can be challenging to troubleshoot when they stop operating properly. Sometimes it may not be easily noticed that the flow rate has slightly dropped or that the machine is struggling to regulate the temperature. With machines that rely on boards like the Gicar, these issues can be time-consuming to troubleshoot, and the user may not even realize there is a problem until significant damage is caused to the machine.
The Brewhob board records sensor data in real time and uploads the data to the user’s dashboard. This information can be used to monitor the system and detect issues with the machine before it becomes a serious problem. If something does go wrong, historical graphs for temperature, flow rate, and other parameters can be reviewed to further aid the repair process.
More information can be found on our (not so serious) website, brewhob.com.
