Robotics has developed tremendously in recent years, and will almost surely continue to do so in the future. We have surgical robots, hotels run by robots, robots that learn, even samurai robots! After all, it makes sense we finally got some bartender robots, right? After MIT showed off its “Beerbots” that bring you beer while you’re on the couch, we have HoLLiE, a robot bartender that did a fantastic job at a party in Berlin, making and serving over 280 cocktails!
HoLLiE was developed by the FZI Research Center for Information Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a non-profit institution for applied research in information technology and technology transfer. FZI develop and prototype concepts, software, hardware and system solutions. Now, they’ve decided to tackle the real hardcore science: robot bartenders. See it below:
To make things even more impressive, that’s not even HoLLiE’s main purpose. HoLLiE is an Acronym for “House of Living Labs intelligent Escort“, and its main purpose is to accompany visitors, provide assistance and be of service when people are looking for something. It can pick up the laundry from the floor, pick up your clothes and put them in the washing machine, and do all sorts of repetitive work around the house. But that’s just the day job – during the night, she goes out to one of Berlin’s hip clubs, where it serves drinks.
There was a human bartender to refill alcohol supplies when they went low, but other than that, HoLLiE did it all by herself: this includes taking up the order from a tablet, picking up the empty glasses, pouring the alcohol from a dispenser and mixing it. Her cocktail book was very limited, as she was only able to deliver a gin-based fruit cocktail or a whiskey lemonade, but the task is still impressive.
So, what do you think? Will we soon order our drinks from a robot, or is there an unreplaceable social aspect of bartending? What do you think?