Life has just gotten a little bit better. A team at MIT's Senseable City Lab collaborated with Italian architect Carlo Ratti to create three robots that can make drink. Sponsored by Coca-Cola and Bacardi, Ratti and researchers installed the Makr Shakr in Milan.
Visitors at the Galleria del Corso were told to download an app and plug in a recipe that would be sent to the robots for mixing. Then the machines shake up cocktails and even apply lemon garnish. "The number of combinations is almost infinite, especially if we take into account the machine's precision of measurement," said Yaniv Jacob Turgeman who is a project leader at Senseable City Lab.
Each robot's gestures were programmed off of filmed ballet dancer Roberto Bolle in action. The researchers then transposed the data from his movements to for the robots. The prototype of the Makr Shakr was being displayed before its official reveal at Google's developer conference in California next month.
"People are given the power to invent their own drink recipes and digitally controlled machines make these recipes into reality. We can then enjoy the results of their production - sharing our experience and opinions with friends.” Ratti said. “Makr Shakr aims to share this new potential - design-make-enjoy - with everyone in just a few minutes: the time taken to prepare a new cocktail.”
Below is a video of the machine in work. Warning: it may make you cry.
[via Designboom / Dezeen]
