Published on: 2026-09-26
Weird Inventions and Technology
In the early days of personal computing, what strange item was actually used by researchers in 1991 to remotely monitor the fill level of a coffee pot in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge?
Correct
Long before you could stream high-definition movies on your phone, scientists created the first webcam specifically to avoid the disappointment of walking to the breakroom only to find an empty pot. They used a frame grabber to capture images of the coffee maker and beam them to their computers. A pressure sensitive mat would be way too clunky for a kitchen counter, an ultrasonic sensor was not the method used for this specific brew-tracking mission, and a mechanical float switch would be a disaster waiting to happen inside a steaming hot appliance. This digital coffee quest truly proved that tech geniuses have always had their priorities set on the most important things in life: caffeine!