Ukrainian startup RoboL Robotics is creating cutting-edge robotic coffee shops using AI, where coffee is prepared not by humans, but by robot baristas. dev.ua spoke with the company’s founder and CEO Anton Kotyk and learned more about whether robots dream of delicious coffee.
Ukrainian startup RoboL Robotics is creating cutting-edge robotic coffee shops using AI, where coffee is prepared not by humans, but by robot baristas. dev.ua spoke with the company’s founder and CEO Anton Kotyk and learned more about whether robots dream of delicious coffee.
RoboL produces humanoid robots and autonomous coffee shops based on them. Such coffee shops are designed to serve many people autonomously, so it is most profitable to install them in a pedestrian area.
How the RoboL automated coffee shop works:
«Currently, the project is in the final stage of manufacturing a minimally viable product. In fact, the product is already working, but we are testing it,» Anton Kotyk, the founder of RoboL Robotics and its development leader, who has extensive experience in IT, engineering, and business, told dev.ua.
He says AI is «used in many places,» but mostly around entertainment. He notes that order preparation is a tightly regulated algorithm, where speed and quality are important.
An automated coffee shop needs maintenance at the end of the working day: wiping down surfaces, refilling ingredients and cups, and rinsing the coffee machine. During operation, human intervention may be required in some cases, for example, if a guest has knocked over a glass of drink, and it needs to be wiped down, or if someone has not picked up their order. Then a notification is sent to the mobile app of the person serving the robot.
Anton Kotyk says that if the robot is in a shopping mall, you can negotiate with local cleaners for a small fee.
When asked whether robotic baristas will take jobs away from people, Robol’s CEO says the company doesn’t have that goal. He believes it won’t happen because «people want to connect with people».
«That is, our picture of the future is a restaurant where a robot cooks, and a person receives guests and creates a pleasant atmosphere. In this case, we get an ideal collaboration, where everyone will do what they are best at. And everyone benefits from this, the owner of the establishment, the guest, and the employee», — notes Kotyk.
He added that with automated coffee shops, employees will no longer have to work like robots.
«Imagine what a barista who has been on his feet for 12 hours and served over 250 visitors will look like. This will be a tired and irritated person. There’s no point in even talking about quality and friendliness here. That’s why we don’t consider this to be human work. At the same time, a robot is not capable of empathy and, no matter what you say, it’s just an advanced coffee maker or food processor,» explains the company’s founder.
Anton Kotyk admits that while baristas are making better and tastier coffee, he believes it’s only a matter of time.
«Making delicious coffee is an algorithm of actions that a professional performs very precisely. And who but a robot can perfectly execute a previously known algorithm? Therefore, I believe that in the near future robots will be able to prepare tastier coffee than a person,» the CEO of Robol is confident.
The startup is betting on the mass market, where the user may not notice the difference in a latte prepared by a robot and a human. «And given that the robot will not start cooking with dirty hands and will not mix up the amount of ingredients, the quality of the robot will be much more consistent than that of a human», — says Kotik.
Currently, Robol has a team of 12 people, almost all of whom are «full-time.» They include programmers, engineers, and production workers, so all design, programming, and production at the company is done in-house.
Anton Kotyk noted that $330,000 of his own funds has already been invested in the project, and a grant for projects at the pre-seed stage from the Ukrainian Startup Fund for $25,000 has also been received.
A Robol robotic kiosk can be purchased for $35,000. According to Kotik, the company will offer several more options in the future, including a subscription model and selling the robot with integration into an existing business. The Robol website indicates that renting the product can cost from $2,500 to $2,900.
«Currently, the project is not profitable, as we are just finishing the first pilot, but we will be ready to take orders in the near future,» says Anton Kotyk.
He said that the startup already has an agreement with Fozzy group for the first kiosk. It will be installed in the Silpo supermarket. The founder of Robol notes that the company has many plans for the future. Some of them foresee that the robots will prepare not only coffee.
«Right now, we are focusing on improving the current product. Also, in accordance with our goals, we want to adapt the robot for other catering establishments. It could be a robot bartender, or a robot that makes pancakes, hot dogs, or something similar», — shared the CEO of Robol.
