Swirling high-proof schnapps through the air and elegantly swinging the shaker: bartender “Toni” has mastered the art of mixing cocktails – and in a new video he competes against world-class bartender Silvia Daniela Istrate. The specialty: “Toni” is mounted on the counter and has two mechanical arms. He is a fully automatic robot bartender from the Italian company Makr Shakr, consisting of two KUKA KR AGILUS robots.
Toni serves fresh drinks to the guests. You choose your drink via an app – or create your own cocktails. “The production of the perfect cocktail is a question of technical ability and ingenuity. Our bar robot Toni is characterized by the former. But inventiveness is reserved for humans,” says Emanuele Rossetti, CEO of Makr Shakr.
Robot bartender Toni: Every movement is real
Now the engineers at Makr Shakr have further developed the bartender robot, with new movements and functions that were put to the test for the first time in the duel with Silvia Daniela Istrate. “To meet this challenge, we have made our most ambitious research and development leap in acrobatics to date,” says Alessandro Incisa, Chief Technology Officer at Makr Shakr: “Our Toni robot is capable of an unprecedented sequence of spiral pouring, vertical pouring, and throwing horizontally, skillfully handling 150+ bottles and virtually endless cocktail combinations, these moves will soon be used by Makr Shakr’s robotic bartenders in our bars around the world are executed. You can already discover acrobatics beforehand in our video, in which everything is real – without any computer graphics “.
No matter where in the world guests visit a Makr Shakr Bar, ordering is always very easy: they choose their drink using an app. The information is transmitted to the bartender robot. As soon as the drink is ready to be picked up, the guest is informed by push message. You can also create your own drinks via the app. “It’s fascinating what our machines can do and where they are used around the world. This duel between robots and bartenders shows once again that the best result is achieved when the strengths of man and machine complement each other,” Michael Otto, Chief Sales Office from KUKA Robotics.
Real collaboration between colleagues
The bar system demonstrated its brand new skills in front of an equally extraordinary opponent. Silvia Daniela Istrate is one of the best flair bartenders in Europe: In recent years she has taken part in international competitions and won several awards, including being the best bartender at the Roadhouse World Final 2018 and 2019. But competing on a shaker against a robot was a new experience for her too. “Working with Toni was amazing. I didn’t expect to feel comfortable working with a robot, and it’s more than that. It’s definitely a real collaboration between colleagues, ” said Silvia Daniela Istrate.
A breathtaking duel – with a surprising outcome. Because in the end, it is the cooperation between man and machine that produces the best result – or in this case: the perfect drink.
This content was originally published on the KUKA website.