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A robotic barista at Cafe X makes coffee drinks. Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
If you are traveling through San Francisco International Airport (SFO) this holiday season, you can be one of the first customers at a robotic coffee bar. Cafe X just opened at SFO, and its robot barista is ready to serve you coffee, tea and other drinks.
A Robot Barista That Dances
Cafe X previously opened a robotic coffee bar at San Jose International Airport’s Terminal B, near Gate 34. The company also has three other robotic coffee bar locations in San Francisco. The new robot barista at San Francisco International Airport is located at Terminal 3, near Boarding Area E.
“I had the idea of a robot making coffee after waiting over 30 minutes for coffee at an airport a few years ago,” Henry Hu, Cafe X’s founder and CEO, said.
Cafe X uses a robotic arm to both make and serve a variety of drinks. Although coffee tends to be one of the most popular choices, the robot barista can also make tea and other drinks. You can order gourmet coffee and have the robot add organic milk from Clover Sonoma or the Swedish oatmilk Oatly. In addition, the robot will entertain you with dancing.
Robots at the Airport
Airports make good targets for the installation of robots that can make coffee because of their size and consistent stream of bleary-eyed customers who need a caffeine fix. For example, 15 million passengers go through San Jose International Airport every year, and most will not care who serves them a drink as long as it is fast. The robot barista can handle 10 orders at a time and has large pickup windows for them to grab a latte before their next flight.
Cafe X has used what it has learned at its previous locations to improve the robot barista. The company plans to open more locations in other airports, including New York. It is also not the only business that wants robots to serve you coffee. Briggo Coffee Haus is another example of a robotic barista that can make the perfect cup of gourmet espresso, and it is also coming to multiple airports around the country.
Although critics point out that the robot barista will replace humans by taking their work, Cafe X explains that its technology creates new jobs for engineers, programmers and others. However, a retail worker would not be able to switch to a Cafe X robotic engineering job easily. As other startups continue to change the job landscape, there are still no clear solutions for displaced workers.
