<story><title>Build your own drink mixing robot</title><url>http://yujiangtham.com/2014/05/25/build-your-very-own-drink-mixing-robot-part-1/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chrissnell</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t mean this in a disrespectful way, but what kinds of drinks are you drinking and where are you drinking them?  Yes, a robotic mixer might work in a crappy bar for standard bar drinks like a Rum and Coke, Long Island Iced Tea, etc., but anything beyond the standard pour-and-serve is probably best done by the human touch, especially if you&amp;#x27;re charging big city prices for them.&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some places that do use quick mixers to mix up the classics.   Garduños, a huge Albuquerque, NM mexican restaurant (as seen in Breaking Bad, season 5!) uses pre-mixed margarita mix from a keg and dispenses it with a typical bartender&amp;#x27;s soda gun.  They&amp;#x27;ve realized that most people who order &amp;quot;well&amp;quot; margaritas aren&amp;#x27;t that discerning and appreciate the consistency that a factory-mixed &amp;#x27;rita delivers.  Garduños serves them by the gallon and the pre-mix saves them lots of bartender time when they&amp;#x27;re mixing their most popular cocktail.&lt;p&gt;This would never fly in a nice bar, though.  These days, most big city bars are chasing the money and the money is in &amp;quot;craft cocktails&amp;quot;.  It&amp;#x27;s all about the ingredients and the customized drinks that are tailored to the customer&amp;#x27;s preferences.  Bartenders are making a big show out of things like twisting a slice of orange peel to release its oils.  The presentation is hugely important here and a robotic mixer just doesn&amp;#x27;t have the right vibe, in my opinion.</text></item><item><author>kokey</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve always thought some kind of automated drink mixing system would be good for busy inner city cocktail bars.  You can still have a bar where people can sit and watch someone mix drinks, but the rest of the venue can be tables with table service.  The orders from the tables are taken by a person and gets sent to the kitchen where the drinks are made by machine.  This will retain the personal touch of people attending to tables personally, and allow them to serve drinks often, promptly and consistently.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drzaiusapelord</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not buying the &amp;quot;robots can&amp;#x27;t make drinks&amp;quot; argument.&lt;p&gt;Restaurant automation was big in the 1960s and 70s, but it eventually became a flop.  The technology mostly worked, but in the end, customers came more for the &amp;quot;culture&amp;quot; of the restaurant or bar. That is, to chat up the waitress, have a short conversation with the bartender, and most importantly, to not feel lonely.&lt;p&gt;Part of the &amp;quot;big city prices&amp;quot; is the exclusivity that place delivers, not how fine the process for making the current hot drink is.&lt;p&gt;Restaurants and bars aren&amp;#x27;t like most businesses. They don&amp;#x27;t just deliver product. They deliver some sense of shared culture, some sense of exclusivity, and some sense of &amp;#x27;here is where my kind of people belong.&amp;#x27;  That is also why we mock chain restaurants, some of which deliver perfectly fine food, but are seen as too &amp;#x27;cookie cutter&amp;#x27; for the social experience we demand.&lt;p&gt;I say bring on the robots. I go to a lot of live music shows and waiting on drinks takes far too long and heaven forbid I get the &amp;quot;too cool for you&amp;quot; bartender and his weird douchbaggery on top of the drink I want. Maybe the bartender role will go the way of the elevator operator or travel agent role. Or higher end places will keep it and the rest will have a bartender sysadmin position to make sure everything keeps running, fills up supply, orders everything, calls service, etc.</text></comment>
<story><title>Build your own drink mixing robot</title><url>http://yujiangtham.com/2014/05/25/build-your-very-own-drink-mixing-robot-part-1/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chrissnell</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t mean this in a disrespectful way, but what kinds of drinks are you drinking and where are you drinking them?  Yes, a robotic mixer might work in a crappy bar for standard bar drinks like a Rum and Coke, Long Island Iced Tea, etc., but anything beyond the standard pour-and-serve is probably best done by the human touch, especially if you&amp;#x27;re charging big city prices for them.&lt;p&gt;That said, there are some places that do use quick mixers to mix up the classics.   Garduños, a huge Albuquerque, NM mexican restaurant (as seen in Breaking Bad, season 5!) uses pre-mixed margarita mix from a keg and dispenses it with a typical bartender&amp;#x27;s soda gun.  They&amp;#x27;ve realized that most people who order &amp;quot;well&amp;quot; margaritas aren&amp;#x27;t that discerning and appreciate the consistency that a factory-mixed &amp;#x27;rita delivers.  Garduños serves them by the gallon and the pre-mix saves them lots of bartender time when they&amp;#x27;re mixing their most popular cocktail.&lt;p&gt;This would never fly in a nice bar, though.  These days, most big city bars are chasing the money and the money is in &amp;quot;craft cocktails&amp;quot;.  It&amp;#x27;s all about the ingredients and the customized drinks that are tailored to the customer&amp;#x27;s preferences.  Bartenders are making a big show out of things like twisting a slice of orange peel to release its oils.  The presentation is hugely important here and a robotic mixer just doesn&amp;#x27;t have the right vibe, in my opinion.</text></item><item><author>kokey</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve always thought some kind of automated drink mixing system would be good for busy inner city cocktail bars.  You can still have a bar where people can sit and watch someone mix drinks, but the rest of the venue can be tables with table service.  The orders from the tables are taken by a person and gets sent to the kitchen where the drinks are made by machine.  This will retain the personal touch of people attending to tables personally, and allow them to serve drinks often, promptly and consistently.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ebiester</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s exactly when to use such a machine. While I appreciate a great cocktail, that&amp;#x27;s not what I&amp;#x27;m getting on the average Saturday night at the dance club. I would prefer a faster cocktail in many of those cases.</text></comment>