Geek power and caffeine power have finally united. An Arduino Arduino powered machine has become the sixth highest funded project on Kickstarter — and with good reason. It proves you don't need the fanciest model on the market to make a good cup.

Constant pressure and temperature are what makes espresso machines make a great cup. Achieving that can make the finest machines pretty complex. But, the unnamed model created by Gleb Polyakov and Igor Zamlinksky simply uses an Arduino brain and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to get the job done.

In plain English, that means their machine monitors temperature and pressure and adjusts as needed to ensure a perfect pull every time — with much simpler components. Even after redesigning the thermoblock, the guys used as much off the shelf parts as possible.

That means a reasonable cost. The Arduino espresso machine will retail at $400 when many quality models often go for $700 and higher. If you get in on the project now you can still get one for $300… though for how long we don't know.

So we've got a good pour, geeky components and a good price. No wonder the project has raised over $341,000 despite having targets just $20,000.

Fortunately the world won't have to wait long for the geektastic espresso machine. Polyakov and Zamlinksky are projecting to build and ship in March.

Wired, via OhGizmo