OK. A couple of people have suggested a modest "competition" to build something that could loosley be described as a "bartender" or "wet butler", maybe.

So let's thrash out some outline of what might be involved in such a project, and then let's go to it.

I'd first propose a rather flexible "deadline", and an even more flexible idea of what exactly is entailed in a "successful" project.

I'll be the first to admit that the toys I have scrambling around my desktop and loungeroom are not up to the task of even lifting a can or glass of beer — unless it's a toy glass.

While I've been kidding Davey a bit about converting his RC eski into something that can actually deliver a drink, the bot I'm thinking of for this project need not actually have arms or advanced AI s/w.

E.g. a simple platform with a sonar or IR ranger can be made to follow the nearest target around a room at a discrete distance. Butlers aren't supposed to crowd. But I'd suggest rules about serving from the right and taking from the left might be suspended so the bot doesn't actually need to tell where the front of the customer's face is!

I posted a project from Robotis that could be also an acceptable entry. It's just a mobile hand. The pix show it's good enough to lift an empty paper cup. Obviously need to beef up the servos to get a tinny off the counter-top. But the idea of a hand crawling around a bar-top, with linetrackers avoiding dropping over the edge, might also be worth a thought.

As to ash's idea for "extra points if you can get it to open the can" — well — maybe a bit tricky. Maybe a RC gun of some kind?

As to the kind of platform that may be up to the task — if you need to carry around a laptop or 9mm firearm, f'rinstance, might be a typical 2-wheeler with a round top as in Talrik or suchlike: http://www.mekatronix.com/detailed/tjpro.htm or http://www.robotics.com/arobot/arobot8.jpg.