Tuesday, January 19, 2010

WALL-E, Make Me a Sazerac



Sarah Schmeler's blog, which usually tackles art and art-related stuff, has republished an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal a while back about a new tech phenom called "hackerspaces." These caves of creativity are hotbeds of tinkering, where nerds gather to put together cool stuff, including some things which are absolutely Jetsons-crazy and useless—such as a robot that can make a Sazerac.





This dandy gadget was created by one Raphael Abrams, who must be either a bartender or barfly on the side. He calls his robot—ha, ha—Barbot. Can a machine make a Sazerac? Hell, I can't even make one if I'm not paying strict attention. And I'll bet the robot's a lot slower than the average barkeep, and won't pay any attention when I specify which rye I want.

Why not start the poor bucket of bolts on something easier, like a Vodka and Tonic. The people who drink those are robots themselves, anyway.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I agree that the end result sounds absurd. What makes my morning espresso really special? Something human, not machine made: The smile of the barista when he or she hands it over.
(the illy coffee people said that first)

Just the same, it might be fun to take one of these gizmos to Little Branch or Clover Club (along with their operators), and see what people think.