Automated coffee bars might be coming to an office, airport, or college campus near you Would you trust a robot to make your coffee" Entrepreneur Henry Hu and the Silicon Valley design firm Ammunition think you should give it a shot.
Pulling a perfect espresso is an art form that makes artisanal baristas and coffee snobs swoon. But when Hu bought his daily brew, he noticed that most baristas were spending more time pushing buttons and moving cups around than actually giving the coffee and customers the TLC they deserved. He noticed that orders would take longer than expected, and sometimes customers would get the wrong drink. Meanwhile, baristas didn?t have time to thoroughly answer questions about their specialty coffees to inquiring minds.
Courtesy Ammunition

?As coffee becomes popular, it?s become a production problem,? Hu says. ?Waiting in line, wrong orders?the alternative is a vending machine, and that?s really bad quality.?
His solution" Automate as much of the process as possible through a coffee-slinging robot called Cafe X. The automated system he invented ensures precision, consistency, and quality, and kills margin of error. Hu believes his business has the potential to offer better coffee for a lower price and to redefine amenities in offices and publicly accessible space.
Hu received $100,000 from a Thiel Fellowship to pursue his idea and installed the Cafe X coffee bar prototype in the Metreon, a San Francisco movie theat...