Robot bartenders are making drinks on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas this month.
(Robot bartenders at sea)
Officially debuting Sunday when Quantum of the Seas sets sail on its maiden voyage, the robot bartenders take drink orders directly from passengers via tablets located around the bar. Passengers then can watch as the machines prepare the concoctions -- with an occasional assist from a human. The robotic arms draw liquor from dozens of bottles hanging from above and are programmed to add just the right amount of mixers, ice and even lemons and mint.
In his 1943 story Q.U.R, sf great Anthony Boucher writes about a usuform robot bartender, a robotic device optimized for the task:
There sat the first original Quinby usuform - no remake of a Robinc model, but a brand-new creation. Quniby said, "Three Planets," and he [the robot] went into action. He had tentacles, and the motions were exactly like Guzub's except that he himself was the shaker. He poured the liquids into his maw, joggled about, and then poured them out of a hollow hoselike tentacle."
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'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.' - Neal Asher, 2008.
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Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'