Shaken, not stirred: Makr Shakr, KUKA and SICK are mixing cocktails

2020. 8. 24

If you order a tequila sunrise on the rooftop terrace in the TownHouse Duomo hotel in Milan, you will not get your drink served by a barkeeper made of flesh and blood, but rather from “Toni”, the cocktail robot. In a futuristic bar with more than 150 kinds of spirits which hang upside down from the ceiling, the robots expertly mixes first-class cocktails. The stainless steel barkeeper was developed by Italian robot maker company MAKR SHAKR. The robot gripper arms are from KUKA, the intelligent safety concept for direct human-machine collaboration from SICK.

A rooftop robot bartender in Milan by KUKA, Makr Shakr and SICK

The robotic barkeeper – which goes by the name of Toni – is fully-automatic and, using his robot gripper arms. He pours tequila, lemon and orange juice, fills the cocktail shaker with ice cubes, shakes it powerfully, carefully adds grenadine, decorates the tequila sunrise with a slice of lemon and serves it to the guest. The cocktail robot can mix anything, from classic gin tonics to special creations. However, he needs precise instructions and the order must be made by clicking in a tablet app. He then gets started and servers freshly-prepared cocktails at a consistent level of quality completely on his own.

cocktail mixing robot with four safety laser scanners from SICK

The openly-accessible working range is protected by four safety laser scanners from SICK during the entire mixing process. There are two S300 on the front side and one safety laser scanner on each the left and right side.

The working range is not released for access until the robot arms have reached their park position and “Toni” has put down the completed cocktail for his guest. If a guest should accidentally reach into the robot working range before that time, the robot immediately makes a safe stop.

Toni does not want to replace the classic barkeeper, but he is showing how high-end technology from Makr Shakr, KUKA and SICK can work in our daily lives.