REAL LIFE NEWS: REAL LIFE WAITDROIDS In Fed DataSpace, the waitdroid is a common sight in bars across the Galaxy, but so far robots haven't shown up in real life pubs - but that may change thanks to Dutch students who have developed a robot that will replace the humble barman and barmaid. Professor Thomas Weber at the Technical University of Darmstadt challenged students to build a working prototype of this real life waitdroid for around $80, in the hope that it will go into mass production. And so thousands of students all over the world will lose their part-time bar work, thrown out onto the streets by the mechanization of their jobs. Or maybe not: so far, the barbot can only pour pressurized German wheat beer. How it will get on with a foaming pint of real ale such as Diesel's Old Peculiar is another matter. What about dealing with complex drink orders involving shorts and mixers, on the rocks or not, and bar snacks such as pork scratchings and a packet of cheese and onion crisps/pretzels and nuts (delete as appropriate depending on whether you are in the UK or the US). And, most important of all, until they make vast strides in AI, a robot bartender is never going to provide a sympathetic ear to miserable drunks. So human bar staff are probably safe from redundancy for now! |