This Denso robot made me a cup of coffee and it was delicious.
Picture this: You walk through a crowded convention center and off to the side you see a huddle of smiling people engrossed in a demo. You walk over to the booth and see a large robotic arm handing a person a cappuccino. This was the scene at several booths at CES 2017. But after having three different robots make me coffee, tea and a cappuccino, which one did it the best?
CES had a few robots that made attendees a hot caffeinated beverage. But how did they rank?
All of the robots had one or more large articulating arms and all made actual beverages to be consumed.
The Bosch robot had one arm and could make either a latte, a cappuccino or a coffee. The company Aubo had a single arm robot that made a cup of hot tea. And Denso had a two arm robot that made a cup of pour over coffee.
One robot rose above the rest when it came to customer service.
Hands down the Bosch cappuccino robot gave the best customer service. It asked me for my name, what kind of coffee beverage I wanted and wished me well when it gave me my cup of joe. This robot did not talk, but rather projected words onto the counter top. I interacted with the robot by tapping on the projected opinions.
For example, when it asked what beverage I wanted, it projected three circles onto the counter top: one for a cappuccino, one for a latte, and one for an americano. I tapped on the projected cappuccino button and the robot validated my choice by projecting the words “good choice”.
