USA TODAY International Edition
A robotic barista is now serving — really, really fast
Cafe X can churn out 120 drinks an hour
Something futuristic is brewing in a shopping complex here.
The first robotic barista in the U. S., named “Gordon,” started serving up to 120 coffee drinks an hour today — ironically, just several thousand feet away from a Starbucks in the same complex.
“A lot of us spend a lot of time in line waiting for coffee,” says Henry Hu, CEO of Cafe X Technologies, the local start- up that created the robot. “And we decided to do something about it.”
For about a year, the firm built a toll booth- sized Cafe X with a sleek industrial design. The automated cafe offers seven drinks like espresso and cafe latte for $ 2.25 to $ 2.95 per 8 oz. cup. An app allows for mobile orders. ( A quick sample of drinks, each flavored with hazelnut, caramel or vanilla, can attest to quality. The robotic arm moved a cup between several stations — from beans freshly ground to the pouring of coffee).
Three nearby order stands offer basic options — drink, flavor and intensity of flavor. After customers enter a mobile number to get a four- digit code and pay, they are texted when the drink is ready. The process typically takes a few minutes. The robot has been programmed to toss a drink and make another, if necessary.
The Cafe X is part of a growing fleet of robots designed to serve the public in service industries such as food delivery, retail, call centers and education. Robotics’ rapid leap out of the R& D lab and into our homes and stores has come at an awkward time for the industry, coinciding with an election won partially on President Trump’s calls to force a renaissance in U. S. manufacturing jobs.
Many economists and technologists see advances in automa- tion as more damaging to U. S. factory jobs than trade pacts, and some have warned about the steep losses to jobs from robotics.
But there’s still a lot of hope, at least among technologists, that the coming wave of robots will bring about more jobs.
“We’re an inflection point where technology will get smarter and smarter, and adapt to people — for years, it was just the opposite,” says Paul Daugherty, chief technology & innovation officer at Accenture.
The vending booth is Cafe X’s second in operation. A model named “Malcolm” is in Hong Kong.