Robot bartender listens, makes jokes

We've got plenty of robots more than happy to get behind the bar for a shift, but we wish they could be a little more personable as they make our gin tonic with soulless precision. We're not talking about dancing on the bar or anything, but we all know how therapeutic a long talk with your local bottleman can be (we prefer Lloyd at the Overlook). Enter the University of Saarland's barbot, which understands voice commands and will mix you a drink while telling ingredient-specific jokes (let's hope this feature plays better in German than it would in English) -- it'll even even tell you the alcohol content of your libation. Thanks though, we'll decide for ourselves when enough is enough (unless there's also robo-bouncer present).

[Bill Fold @ Mar 12th 2006 10:04PM]

lol funny stuff!

[DeafLEGO @ Mar 12th 2006 10:27PM]

Is he made out of LEGO blocks?

[Lawry @ Mar 12th 2006 11:00PM]

This would be very cool, I hate when bartenders take forever to make drinks, you could probly have 2+ robots going at once.

[Hunter @ Mar 12th 2006 11:26PM]

spellcheck

[tempusmaster @ Mar 12th 2006 11:36PM]

Actually a lot of the parts and mechanisms are LEGOS as you can see in the screenshots from this video- http://www.robots-dreams.com/2006/03/lego_bartender_.html

[Jim Jones @ Mar 13th 2006 12:26AM]

If people generally come to bars for socialization, something like this may be bad for long-term sales.

Sure it has great novelty appeal, but when the robot regurgitates the same joke a few hundred times, this machine may wear out its welcome.

--
Jim
http://www.runfatboy.net

[Rutch @ Mar 13th 2006 12:46AM]

lol, it's iZac

[Jarryd @ Mar 13th 2006 1:17AM]

Don't you need a license to be a bar tender ?

[Hunter @ Mar 13th 2006 3:35AM]

Haha, Rutch, that's the best reference anyone has made yet!

[Max @ Mar 13th 2006 5:16AM]

Yeah but can it understand my drink order when I'm speaking drunk?

Better yet, can it understand my drink order when I'm speaking drunk and with 4 other drunk people yelling their order at it in a crowded pub?

Can it understand this drink order? "Gimme a goose and tonic and a goose straight up no wait a goose on the rocks three no wait four shots of tequila, and four stellas"??

Can it understand that drink order when I'm speaking drunk?

[Permanent4 @ Mar 13th 2006 10:31AM]

Look! It's an automatic robot based on science!

Who wants to party with the DrinkBot?

[Eli Singer @ Mar 13th 2006 11:48AM]

Don't forget to check out the DrinkBot!

http://media22a.libsyn.com/podcasts/tiki/TikiBarTV_10.mov

[jef @ Mar 13th 2006 11:49AM]

kinda like this "virtual bartender" here? www.thebar.com.

this guy is pretty funny...

[James @ Mar 14th 2006 3:49AM]

But what do you tip a robot?

[Daniel Bobbert @ Mar 15th 2006 8:22AM]

Well guys, we built this robot to show how easy it is to build a speech interface using our tools. It is NOT meant to be the greatest example of robotics in the world. It was built in only a few weeks using Lego Mindstorms, Pneumatics and some standard Lego bricks.

BTW: We license the software to anyone who wants to make speaking robots. Just contact me at [e-mail]

More pictures and movies can be found at http://www.clt-st.de/mico/