Ah, Physical Computing and tight deadlines. Nothing gets my creative krausen frothier. Which is why I am now able to present to you this monstrosity of a contraption, the Beer Theft Prevention Device™.

It would truly be a travesty if someone at a party were to ask, “hey, which of these beers is mine?” and then pick up YOUR beer by accident. So that everybody knows which beer is yours, I strapped a bunch of electronics to a beer bottle. Problem solved.

To complete the requirements of the assignment, however, I had to make those electronics do something. So here’s how it works: There’s a switch on the side of the bottle. When it is disengaged, nothing happens, and you can drink your beer normally. When the switch is engaged, it turns on an ultrasonic rangefinder that checks the distance of any would-be beer thief’s lips from the mouth of your bottle. If he gets too close, it tells a solenoid to let go of its hitherto magnetically-attracted rod. As the thief tilts the bottle up to take a sip, gravity takes over and the rod falls in their face, hitting them right on the nose.

Crisis averted!!