Robot Bartender
Client
Founders Forum
Partners
Titan Reality, ABB
Application
Automated bartender
Outcome
Cocktails made to order by a robot bartender who detects the type of glass presented to it, and makes the right cocktail
Founders Forum
The Founders Forum is a community of tech company founders, investors, corporates, and government leaders. Amongst other international events, they host a flagship forum every June in London. In 2016, the Founders Forum wanted something special to supplement their human-tended bars. This led to a collaboration between Titan Reality, ABB Robotics UK, and HAL Robotics to design an collaborative robot bartender.
A Collaborative Robot Bartender
One of the key requirements of this project was to ensure a very shallow learning curve – nobody wants to learn something new just to get a drink. Therefore, we leveraged two core capabilities of Titan Reality’s Pulse sensor pad: object recognition and localisation.
By simply selecting the appropriate glass for their cocktail and placing it on the pad in front of the collaborative ABB YuMi robot, the system would understand which drink the customer wanted. This then triggered a sequence of actions whereby the robot would pick up the glass, fill it with the relevant ingredients and then hand it over to one of the two human bartenders supporting it for the finishing touches.
The robot bartender, doubling as an entertainer, becomed an instant centerpiece, attracting the attention of all attendees and created a memorable experience.
HAL Robotics software for human-robot collaboration and entertainment
Our software’s extreme flexibility, which supports both complex robots and human-robot collaboration scenarios, enabled us to overcome challenges such as the one faced during the very short time frame of this robot bartender project:
- Connecting Titan Reality’s sensor data with our digital twin.
- Solving the YuMi 14-axes kinematics to pick & place the glass.
- Adding cocktail recipes and linking them to the shape of glasses.
In the realm of entertainment and human-robot collaboration, imagination and available sensors play a pivotal role. By empowering our software users with unparalleled flexibility to configure robot behavior, they can create innovative interactions that transcend conventional automated services, resulting in delightful and engaging human-robot experiences.
Want to have a look behind the curtain, and see how we can also program robots to do bartender tricks? Check this other bartender project featuring Makr Shakr and KUKA robots.
To learn more about our software modules for human-robot collaboration and entertainment applications, please feel free to contact us.