Is There a Bot Barista Throwdown in Our Future?

Yet another bot is being demonstrated in the media this week, as the Huffington Post rolls out Rollin Justin. Justin is a whiz at catching balls – he has an 80% success rate in that. But unlike the other robot we’ve showcased, he also makes coffee. Justin’s ball-catching proves better than his coffee brewing, though, as his repertoire is limited to pod-type brewers, where all you do is plop a pre-measured package in the brewer and push a button. We have to admit though, Justin has one steady arm, and it doesn’t appear likely he would ever spill the coffee unless bumped, or an earthquake shakes things up a little. Technology is moving fast and the race to produce the all around best bot for the home is progressing. Italian scientists have created one who makes only instant coffee. This one’s a female named “Justine”. Then there is the Japanese lego-like girl robot named Hina who makes a pour over coffee without spilling a drop. We featured one in a previous report that rolls down to the corner coffee shop and brings back a Danish and presumably could add a coffee to his shlep. We can foresee the day when the Justins, Justines, and Hinas will meet in a great Bot-rista Championship. The winner will receive its own coffee shop so it can spend all day making one coffee after the other. One has to wonder what it is that makes the robot inventors so intent on coffee. It’s not that hard to make coffee in the types of brewers available today. On the other hand, vacuuming and other cleaning are jobs that take a lot more energy and are a lot less fun than making a pot of coffee. There is a robot who vacuums, but how about dusting the furniture, washing windows and shoveling snow and the like? Then we’ll all have more time to spend making fun coffee drinks and relaxing while drinking them – while watching the bot do the work In the meantime, below are three helps to making coffee effortlessly.