Over the past few years, we’ve seen all sorts of robot bartenders, ranging from simple pod-based drink machines to high-tech robots slinging drinks everywhere from Iceland to the high seas.
What we haven’t seen as much is the combo of a voice assistant and an animated computer avatar as the interface for a robot bartender. That changes with Cecelia.
When the customer orders a drink from Cecilia, they’re greeted by an animated bartender that takes their order via voice commands using conversational AI. Cecilia can serve up to 120 drinks per hour (provided customers don’t get into long conversations or hit on the bartender), is about 8 feet tall and can store up to 70 liters of beverages in the storage area at the bottom of the machine.
In some ways, combining a voice assistant with a robot bartender is a logical evolution of drink-making automation. Anyone who’s ordered a drink from a good bartender knows that friendly conversation is part of the job description. While we don’t expect Cecilia to commiserate with you about your dating life (at least not yet), it’s not hard to envision a future where highly conversational robots chat it up with those huddled around the watering hole.
The company behind Cecilia is GKI Group, a startup based out of Israel. The company has been showcasing its version 1 of Cecilia at corporate functions and other small pop-ups and is showcasing its second-generation Cecilia at CES 2022. You can visit Cecilia at booth 61708 in Eureka Park.
