Here at Nu Vending, we’re proud of the range of modern coffee machines available to our customers. They can provide the kind of top-quality brews that vending machine users could previously only dream about. When you’re sipping a fresh latte, espresso or cappuccino from one of our coffee machines, it’s easy to think that we’ve reached the high point when it comes to what can be achieved with a coffee machine.
However, the world of vending never stands still, and one of the latest trends likely to be heading our way soon is the robot barista, also less catchily known as a robot arm coffee maker. But what is one and what makes it different to a traditional coffee machine?
What is a robot arm coffee maker?
Most coffee machines work on essentially the same basis, in that hot water is passed through ground coffee, with the resulting liquid filtering into a cup to give you your drink. Modern machines use better regulated temperatures, higher quality grounds and smarter technology, which means they are better able to replicate freshly handmade coffee.
However, nothing beats that freshly ground taste and that’s what a robot barista can do – accurately recreating every move a human barista would make while making a coffee for a customer. By following a pre-programmed set of processes, it can do everything from grinding the beans to disposing of the grounds at the end.
The robot barista has the added element of allowing the customer to more subtly customise their drink by altering the temperature, strength, amount of milk or cream being added and so on.
The robot arm coffee maker version takes the idea right to its logical end, by using a mechanical arm to fill the cup and pass the finished drink to the waiting customer.
The Benefits of Robot Coffee Makers
One thing you get with a robot barista that you can’t get with a human barista is consistency. Once you’ve managed to programme it to make all the correct moves at the right times and at the right temperature to create the perfect coffee, then all you have to do is sit back and watch it do it again and again, with each cup tasting as fresh as the one before.
Robot coffee makers are also likely to be able to do everything quicker and handle more orders at a time, ensuring that queues are kept to a minimum and that those in a rush to get on with their day or back to the office aren’t kept waiting any longer than necessary.
And if that makes it sound like the human element in the coffee shop can be done away with, think again. Having a machine to do all the repetitive tasks frees up staff to spend proper time interacting with their customers, answering their questions and generally having more time to make for a more engaging customer experience.
Are the robot barista or robot arm coffee maker the future of coffee vending?
These technologies are still in their infancy, but it’s likely that some version of them will be heading our way relatively soon.
Whether they’ll do away with the personal element in a coffee shop is one thing, but we can definitely see a place for the barista in large areas with a lot of footfall, such as leisure centres, airports, train stations and the like. Leave aside the ‘robot arm’ element – which, let’s face it, seems more of a gimmick than a practical solution – and what you’re left with is an even more sophisticated version of the modern coffee machine.
For that reason, we think that some version of the robot barista will represent the next step in the standard coffee machine. Take away the element of robotics and what you have left is a smarter coffee maker, bringing the public coffee machine even closer to the types of coffee currently enjoyed in the best coffee shops.
For the very best in the current generation of coffee machines, you can’t do better than talk to the friendly team at Nu Vending. With all the latest models from the biggest names in the business, we offer fast delivery, ongoing maintenance and some very tasty and satisfying coffee.
Call us now to find out more.
