Cyborg sommelier gives a sip of the future
Australian students have made a technological breakthrough that may herald a new age of robotics and automation in our daily lives.
Sydney University students have unveiled a bartending robot, which is capable of compiling a range of liquid comforts without spilling a drop.
The booze-bot can pour, mix, shake and stir for hours on end without a break, or having to sneak drinks of its own.
It even wears a bow tie around its “hand” for a touch of class.
The techno-tapster is actually a product of the Sydney University Architecture school, and students say mixing Long Island Iced Teas could easily be replaced with the sobering work of concrete preparation or pouring.
The mechanical mixologist was one of several innovatively re-purposed construction robots on display at a recent evening in Sydney.
It appeared alongside a large robot normally employed in car manufacturing, which the faculty had re-tasked with cutting out organically-shaped porcelain lampshades.
A second robot was one hand to take photographs of visitors' faces and render them as abstract sketches on a large flat grid. It clutched paintbrush which was regularly dipped into an ink pot nearby.
See the high-tech hosts in action below.