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The issue is that these automated drinks generally suck for whatever reason, and the machines break often. And you can’t really customize everything or change t

The issue is that these automated drinks generally suck for whatever reason, and the machines break often. And you can’t really customize everything or change things quickly (imagine building a machine with only space for milk and half and half before the soy milk and almond milk craze hit). Oh and could you add a shot of espresso and some whipped cream? We’ve had coffee machines for decades. A robotic arm to serve them is not useful for us.

bhouston 8y ago
A robot arm that is generic is actually quite useful. Because you can build stuff around it that it can use. You want more milk types, you just add more milk nozzles that it can access, and these are just containers or cheep non-moving things. The generic robot arm is generic but expensive. I saw this with incredibly expensive robotic arms on a recent cruise. It was actually very very flexible -- all options were external to the arm, and cheap: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/bionic-bar https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/bionic-... It was a very popular bar on the cruise ship in terms of drinks sold -- but it was also in a prime location. The cruise ship properly understood that these "bionic bar" robots were a performance.
- ashelmire 8y ago
  That's pretty cool. Apparently the bionic bar costs about 100,000 euros and still requires a human for constant attention. It also appears that they charge 1 euro per cocktail that it makes even when you buy the machine? https://www.makrshakr.com/makr-shakr-3-0/ https://www.makrshakr.com/makr-shakr-3-0/ I like the idea, but that's a lot of up-front expense and still requires humans, electricity, repair, and lacks customizability and speed. If they can bring the cost down it seems like a viable option. Except... how do you not serve people who are already intoxicated? How do you check id (make sure they aren't scanning a friends)? And I guess you aren't building loyalty, which bartenders often do.
srehnborg 8y ago
I've been to Cafe X multiple times. This makes a GREAT cup of coffee, matcha, or espresso. It's high quality. This is not just vending machine coffee.
- kilohotel 8y ago
  It literally is. They don't make the coffee production equipment, they're off-the-shelf super-automatics. You can see them in the booth.

bhouston 8y ago

A robot arm that is generic is actually quite useful. Because you can build stuff around it that it can use. You want more milk types, you just add more milk nozzles that it can access, and these are just containers or cheep non-moving things. The generic robot arm is generic but expensive. I saw this with incredibly expensive robotic arms on a recent cruise. It was actually very very flexible -- all options were external to the arm, and cheap: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/bionic-bar https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/category/category/bionic-... It was a very popular bar on the cruise ship in terms of drinks sold -- but it was also in a prime location. The cruise ship properly understood that these "bionic bar" robots were a performance.

ashelmire 8y ago
That's pretty cool. Apparently the bionic bar costs about 100,000 euros and still requires a human for constant attention. It also appears that they charge 1 euro per cocktail that it makes even when you buy the machine? https://www.makrshakr.com/makr-shakr-3-0/ https://www.makrshakr.com/makr-shakr-3-0/ I like the idea, but that's a lot of up-front expense and still requires humans, electricity, repair, and lacks customizability and speed. If they can bring the cost down it seems like a viable option. Except... how do you not serve people who are already intoxicated? How do you check id (make sure they aren't scanning a friends)? And I guess you aren't building loyalty, which bartenders often do.

srehnborg 8y ago

I've been to Cafe X multiple times. This makes a GREAT cup of coffee, matcha, or espresso. It's high quality. This is not just vending machine coffee.

kilohotel 8y ago
It literally is. They don't make the coffee production equipment, they're off-the-shelf super-automatics. You can see them in the booth.