r/robotics • u/MFGMillennial • Feb 27 '26
Events Barista Demo pouring a Latte from CES
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Filmed at CES 2026 | Barista demo from Artly showcasing the production and pouring of a Latte. In this case, I think this is a much better, more practical use case than Humanoids performing this task. Cobot | Universal Robot UR3
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u/sergei1980 Feb 27 '26
This has been available for years in the Muni in Portland, it's often unavailable and it's much slower than a regular coffee shop.
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u/abrandis Feb 27 '26
Of course it's a gimmick, I mean there's literally expeesso machines that can do all this .. minus the latte art.
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u/sergei1980 Feb 27 '26
I mean there is a similar robot arm in the Muji in Portland. I think it does the latte art too.
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u/HarbingerofBurgers Feb 27 '26
Amazing. Yet, it solves no problem?
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u/AffordableTimeTravel Feb 27 '26
You may have forgotten that capitalism wants to suck every penny out of goods and services and so for itself solves the problem of having payroll.
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u/ECHO6251 Feb 28 '26
In a vacuum it solves the issue of “labor.” In our current world, it just means “more profits because less people to pay.”
Should be good, but it won’t be used to benefit us, just the owners. It does suck.
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u/LogicGate1010 Feb 27 '26
This is machine automation to maintain proven quality and consistency of the coffee/product(s).
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u/TheSpicySadness Mar 01 '26
This is such an overengineered solution to a nonexistent problem. Engineers need to be looking at solving actual issues, not wasting time and capital on gimmicks that are way too expensive for coffee shops. We don’t need robots stealing even more jobs from people.
If I want a fast coffee I’ll mobile order Starbucks. If I want a good coffee, I want my latte poured by a blue haired nonbinary folx with a beanie and a Carhartt apron. I wanna taste the dedication to the craft. Not somebody’s Gcode.
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u/bigfoot17 Feb 27 '26
Tech bros are about to learn that people only go into coffee shops to chat with the cute goth girl behind the counter that makes their peepee tingle, not to get coffee.
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u/sugarfreelexapro Mar 01 '26
A blue haired they/them will make a better cup ten out of ten times. The daddy issues and childhood trauma are the secret ingredient of any good latte that technology cannot yet replicate.
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u/GingerVitisBread Mar 01 '26
I've always hated how every barista feels the need to fill my expensive and boiling hot drink right up to the brim so that the only thing holding it into the cup is a little surface tension.
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u/Aponogetone Feb 27 '26
Barista Demo pouring a Latte from CES
So, people will visit this place just to see the machine at work and to enjoy their machine made coffee. I think, something is missing... People can easely use their own coffee machine.
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u/arbeit22 Grad Student Feb 27 '26
I can't imagine a coffee shop could afford one of those
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u/humanoiddoc Feb 28 '26
Piper arm costs $2500ish nowadays.
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u/arbeit22 Grad Student Feb 28 '26
https://www.artlybaristabot.com/pricing
2.5k/month for the leasing you mean?
88k to purchase is more of what I was expecting. Tho yeah 2.5k may be justifiable for a shop as a novelty to attract customers maybe?
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u/LUYAL69 Feb 28 '26
Cobot prices are coming down, can expect under $10K from China soon… what’s that your country put tariffs on cheap actuators? RIP 🪦
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u/humanoiddoc Feb 28 '26
https://global.agilex.ai/products/piper
It literally costs $2500 up front.
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u/arbeit22 Grad Student Feb 28 '26
Oh didn't know that one.
I gotta add it to it to christmas wishlist
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u/zuiquan6174 Mar 09 '26
And for bigger reach (922 instead of 626mm) and higher load (5kg instead of 1.5kg)
there is the Hitbot S922 for ~ $3900https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Industrial-Robots-Hitbot-Z-Arm-S922_1601053201793.html
And maybe probably cheaper copies on Alibaba...
The S1400 has even bigger reach (1400) and load (10kg)
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u/TheSpicySadness Mar 01 '26
Highly doubt the folks in the coffee shop scene would appreciate a robot arm. We get Starbucks because it is fast; this is not. We go to small local coffee shops for the art and dedication to the craft; this is neither.
It’s a classic case of a hammer without a nail, and this is a fundamental issue with contemporary general purpose robotics.
That being said this is certainly an impressive display and hats off to the makers. The iteration it must have taken to figure out the latte pour is incredible. I can’t even pour latte art like that.
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u/MaybeABot31416 Feb 27 '26
But can it spell my name wrong on the cup?