Hex on the beach: Get ready for the robot bartenders

Mixing it up

The bar's robot arms can do almost everything a bartender can, except dispense potted wisdom: from shaking a Martini, to thin-slicing a lemon garnish, to mixing a mojito.

This portable, pop-up version was serving visitors at the Microsoft Future Decoded event in London this week, with the arms pouring about 120 drinks per hour.

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Optics everywhere

An app allows partygoers to create and name their own recipes, summon their favourite drinks from their order history and rate and comment on each other's creations.

To avoid spillages and create a more pleasing spectacle, the makers claim the robots movements were modelled on the gestures of Italian dancer and choreographer Marco Pelle of the New York Theatre Ballet.

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Pouring one out

The automated bar is equipped with pretty much everything needed to serve drinks: ice machines, soda and juice dispensers, lemon cutters and cup dispensers.

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A high tech tab

On the outside of the bar are four high-brightness LED walls that show real-time information on current orders, queue time and other stats.

The machines, which are available to hire or buy, can already be found in the wild, with a Makr Shakr running a bar on board the Royal Caribbean ship, the Quantum of the Seas.

Makr Shakr

Drinks delivered to your hand

These black conveyor belts deliver the finished drink to the bars on either side of the cube.

Drinks can be ordered from an app running on iOS, Android or custom tablets, while favourite flavours can also be shared socially.

Nick Heath / TechRepublic

Staying fresh

To prevent drinks being tainted by flavours from previous cocktails, the mixer is cleaned out between orders.

Nick Heath / TechRepublic