South Korea - The new robot
barista at the cafe in Daejeon, South Korea, is courteous and
swift as it seamlessly makes its way towards customers.
"Here is your Rooibos almonds tea latte, please enjoy. It's
even better if you stir it," it says, as a customer reaches for
her drink on a tray installed within the large, gleaming white
capsule-shaped computer.
After managing to contain an outbreak of the new coronavirus
which infected more than 11,000 people and killed 267, South
Korea is slowly transitioning from intensive social distancing
rules towards what the government calls "distancing in daily
life".
Robots could help people observe social distancing in
public, said Lee Dong-bae, director of research at Vision
Semicon, a smart factory solution provider which developed the
barista robot together with a state-run science institute.
Customers wait at a cafe where a robot that takes orders, makes coffee and brings the drinks straight to customers. Picture: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
"Our system needs no input from people from order to
delivery, and tables were sparsely arranged to ensure smooth
movements of the robots, which fits will with the current
'untact' and distancing campaign," he said.
The system, which uses a coffee-making robotic arm and a
serving robot, can make 60 different types of coffee and serves
the drinks to customers at their seats. It can also communicate
and transmit data to other devices and contains self-driving
technology to calculate the best routes around the cafe.
A customer picks up her drink at a cafe where a robot that takes orders, makes coffee and brings the drinks straight to customers in Daejeon, South Korea. Picture: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
An order of six drinks, processed through a kiosk, took just
seven minutes. The only human employee at the two-storey cafe
was a patissier who also has some cleaning duties and refills
ingredients.
The manufacturer and the scientific institute aim to supply
at least 30 cafes with robots this year.
"Robots are fun and it was easy because you don't have to
pick up your order," said student Lee Chae-mi, 23. "But I'm also
a bit of worried about the job market as many of my friends are
doing part-time jobs at cafes and these robots would replace
humans."