Robotic Bartender Programmed To Recognize When You Are Ready For a Drink

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Michael Harper reports that researchers at the Bielefeld University in Germany are working to develop a robotic bartender, and their most difficult challenge so far is to identify the body language that is most commonly used by customers and interpreted as someone wanting to buy a drink. A bartending robot has to be able to distinguish between customers intending to order, chatting with friends or just passing by [abstract] — and do so in a very noisy environment. The researchers examined the behavior of customers in nightclubs to see which behaviors were most successful at indicating to the barman the customer was ready to be served. 'Effectively, the customers identify themselves as ordering and non-ordering people through their behavior,' says Dr Sebastian Loth, lead author of the study. The researchers analyzed 105 attempts to order drinks at nightclubs in Bielefeld and Herford in Germany and Edinburgh in Scotland and assessed the behavior of customers 35 seconds before they were served. They found the most successful tactic, which occurred in 95% of orders, was standing squarely towards the bar with head facing forward. Looking at money saw just seven per cent of customers being served within the 35 second time frame. The findings are used to produce an update to the robotic bartender's programming to allow it to ask customers if they would like a drink when they display the right body language. What the research team has learned is being programmed into a robotic bartender called James, or Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems. The researchers have been working on James since early 2011 and hope to have the project completed in January 2014."

Comments

Ok, so they know when you want another drink...

[ThaumaTechnician]

No such a difficult problem: "Barkeep, beer me!" Do they know when you've had enough? And how well do they handle a belligerent drunk?

Re:Ok, so they know when you want another drink...

[bondsbw]

The thing is, robots probably won't ever replace bartenders. Human interaction is one of the main reasons people go to bars.

What this robot will replace is fast food workers. McDonald's employees (in my area at least) already pass for robots.

Re:Ok, so they know when you want another drink...

[__aaltlg1547]

But McDonalds employees will always be cheaper than robots.

Re:Ok, so they know when you want another drink...

[ShanghaiBill]

The drinks mostly fill on their own in response to a button and IIRC, the fries are now on a timer.,

In some areas of Europe, McDonalds order-takers have been replaced with touch screens. As you would expect, automation tends to be higher in places with higher wages.

Hazardous environment

[hammeraxe]

It is understandable that they want to automate the work of bar staff. After all they work in a very noisy, dirty and smelly environment, unsuitable for human workers.

What's more important...

[bmo]

...is to have a bartender that knows when to shut me off.

That is unless you like to hear me sing (badly) Rolling Stones tunes.

--
BMO

Re:What's more important...

[nospam007]

"Strange, I think this must be a US thing. Across the pond they keep feeding you drink as long as you keep paying."

In the US you might have to show ID, express willingness, in Europe the bar-bot just has to check: 'is it breathing?' Then it knows it's not a hat-stand and offers beverages.

This robot doesn't exist.

[Anonymous Coward]

For the research comes from a non-existent university.

'Tis for the best, lest it drive me to drink. It would!

Re:if (1) { serve_alcohol() }

[Longjmp]

void bartender() {
exception up;
int i = 1;
try {
while ( i++ ) {
serve_alcohol();
if ( i == MAX_INT) throw up;
...
}

/* Note: there is no catch statement within the bartender function, no one would want to catch that> */