Berlin's Robotic Pub 185
Gallamine writes: "Take a trip to Berlin, and visit the Automaten Bar to have a drink served by a robot. This members-only bar is completely automated. While this may sound rather cool, the part I find disturbing is the fact that the owner plans on webcamming the security cameras so you can check on who's at the pub. The owner also wants to make it so you can have a SMS message sent to you when a particular person's entrance card is swiped by the system. I guess the idea is that you can get an e-mail to let you know that Bob is having a drink so you can stop by and chat. While it sounds like a bunch of baloney to me, it appears to be pretty popular in Berlin, as they've already got 130 members after 2 weeks without any advertising."
so.. (Score:2, Funny)
Do you get kicked out by a robotic Bouncer?
Re:so.. (Score:2, Funny)
Dry bar? (Score:2, Funny)
From Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D., as quoted in I, Robot. In Robots and Empire (ch. 63), the "Zeroth Law" is extrapolated, and the other Three Laws modified accordingly:
A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
Re:Dry bar? (Score:1)
Hi my name is Robo (Score:3, Funny)
video interview with one of the creators (Score:5, Informative)
But no pictures of the bar!
Re:video interview with one of the creators (Score:1)
Re:video interview with one of the creators (Score:1)
I'm curious what it looks like....
Only popular w/single people, I bet (Score:5, Funny)
Grrrreat. Just what I need, my girlfriend having the ability to get an SMS message on her phone whenever I violate my no-carb diet.
Re:Only popular w/single people, I bet (Score:3, Interesting)
I bet law inforcement will like it. If they need to track down someone who frequents the bar, they can just get an e-mail!
I bet insurance companies would love it too becuase what's to stop the owner from recording what people are drinking? If you get in an accident, they could just check up on you and see how many you had too drink.
If the information is being stored on what you drink, it could then be sold to Health insurance companies. The health insurance companies can then charge based on the good, and bad, practices you have on drinking. They could, and probably would, use it as a cost saver.
Re:Only popular w/single people, I bet (Score:1)
Bender (Score:4, Funny)
I think I might consider becoming a member
Re:Bender (Score:1, Funny)
Bender : Why dont you bite my shiny metal ass?
Customer : Erm, okay.. can you tell me where the phone is?
Bender : Its the one over there (points to suicide booth)
Etc
Without advertising???? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Without advertising???? (Score:2)
Robotic Pubs? (Score:2)
I find it sad to read that the owner of the bar feels the reason folks in Berlin might be going for the bar is because they're a future-going people... and the reason they're a future-going people is because their past has sucked so much.
Still, it looks like it would be fun to go to such a bar. I'd probably study the machinery (if it's interesting enough) and try to find bugs.
Whoa, wait a tic... 'bugs' in a bar!?
Never mind.
What about the drunks? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if they have electronic "Norm"s and "Cliff"s as well....
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:1)
But you could still let a friend breath (and pay
Bartenders (Score:1)
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:1)
Any Germans care to elaborate?
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2)
This shows in the laws: you may have 0.5 per mill alcohol in your blood and after that you get punished.. badly (don't let this fool you: if you have an accident and you were under this limit then you are in deep trouble). A friend of mine lost his drivers license for 2 years + 2000eur charges. Not too shabby if you ask me (he had 1.65 per mill).
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:5, Informative)
Police are allowed to stop any when they suspect of being drunk and breathalyse them, it is an offence to refuse a sample, anyone near the limit (which works out at about 1 litre of 5% ABV beer in an average sized man) is taken to the station for a blood test (if you refuse on religious grounds you get a urine test, but they hold you longer)
I heard that the US was a lot more lax, maybe that is why it has more of a problem there- any USians care to tell us what the rules are, is it State based or Federal?
Most people over here have no sympathy for drink-drivers and I think it is this unacceptability that has driven it down more than anything else.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:3, Insightful)
All true, but I think the real difference is the legal culture. If I got arrested for drink driving after leaving my local, the last thing I'd think of doing would be too sue the barman. The british culture is one of "responsibility for your own actions", rather than the US one which is all too often "find someone else to blame".
Drink Driving in America (Score:2)
The states all have their own legal standards, which are generally 0.08-0.10 percent blood alcohol levels. Each has its own varying penalties for DUI, multiple offenses, compounded by actually killing someone, etc.
Alcohol consumption is, in the aggregate, less socially acceptable than in the UK; actual drunk drivers are on a social plane more or less with Taliban John.
Drunk driving is more of a problem in the US largely because virtually nobody lives within walking distance of a liquor establishment.
Re:Drink Driving in America (Score:2)
> largely because virtually nobody lives within
> walking distance of a liquor establishment.
Bullshit, it's a cultural thing. There are such things as public transportations, taxis and designated drivers, you know.
I'd be fascinated to hear what you thought public transportation, taxis, and designated drivers had to do with "walking distance". I'm talking about people living half a block from a pub.
Re:Drink Driving in America (Score:2)
The legal climate is close to what was described for the UK, only the actual legal penalties normally assessed are quite a lot less. E.g., a guy I knew about 20 years ago got drunk and crashed his car, while his license was suspended due to previous drunk driving convictions. He slept in the county jail and picked up trash along the roadsides for six months, but that was all. He wasn't kicked out of the Air Force or even busted in rank, although I think his brother in law the congressman had something to do with that. Surprisingly, he did learn from this -- at subsequent squadron parties, he stayed at the soft-drink end of the bar.
The penalties now are stiffer, but nowhere near 10 years unless you kill someone, and even then you are probably going to get paroled early to make room for some really "dangerous" prisoner like a marijuana user... Do Brits actually spend 10 years in prison for drunk-driving accidents? I had the impression that -- same as here -- most _murderers_ get paroled in less.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2, Insightful)
Thing is, there are cases reported fairly regularly about drivers who have been busted numerous times for drunk driving, lost their licenses, kept drinking and driving, continue to get busted even more, serve little to no time, continue drinking and driving and eventually kill someone. The U.S. judicial system needs a severe overhaul, IMAO, for anything to be done. Of course, the U.S. population is much higher then any one European country AND I think we have a much worse drinking problem.
What we need is a good Orwellian system to keep drunk drivers under control.
Kierthos
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2)
For instance, if the drunk's last name is Bush...
State-based (Score:1)
Each state also has its own legislation for maximum speeds, school zones, rules-o-da-road, and drunk driving definitions. Most states (possibly all, I'm not sure) have a limit on blood alcohol content (BAC) of no more than 0.1. My state uses 0.08, and a few are even lower, or trying to get lower, which would put them on par with the British limits. There are no federal regulations on this, but if the feds decide they want something done, they make it "voluntary" but withhold funding for other projects from non-compliant states unless a certain percentage of all states comply. (This has caused a lot of arguments on states' rights.)
The penalties are not as severe as the British penalties in any state with which I'm familiar. There's also some variance among localities as to how diligently the police enforce such things.
Re:State-based (Score:3, Informative)
Penalties, etc. for drunk driving vary a lot, but they're getting much stricter very quickly these days. Laws are definately stricter in the Northeast than in the South or Southwest. Most Northeastern states (NY, NJ, PA, etc.) have "open container" laws - There are stiff penalties for even having an open container of alcohol in your vehicle, even if you're not the one drinking. (i.e. you can get heavily fined and jail time is a possibility if your passengers are drinking and you're dead sober.)
On the other hand, according to a friend that went to Rice University in Houston, "open container" laws are a completely alien concept in Texas, where a bunch of college students can sit in the back of a moving pickup (illegal in the Northeast in and of itself) and drink to their heart's content.
Re:State-based (Score:2)
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2, Insightful)
In France, certainly, it's quite common for children to be allowed a glass of wine at dinner, or at least wine mixed with water. Every Frenchie I know has told me they drank wine at home from age 10-12 (Note: I'm not reporting the finding of an official study!) and that there was nothing unusual about that. So you find fewer instances of 18-21-year-olds who take the first opportunity, and many subsequent opportunities, to go out and get blasted.
I don't know for sure that a similar attitude prevails in Germany; I've only been to Berlin once, for a week. They do love their beer!
Education (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:1)
True, simply saying "don't" or "it's the law" is no sensible education. My parents did not get me drunk or make me an alcoholic by pouring me some wine or beer when I was 10 or 11. Now this must probably horrify most Americans but at least, not many EU teens drink themselves to death during weekends just because it is illegal and therefore sounds attractive.
I didn't know that drink-driving was so common / well-tolerated in the US but here it will cost you quite a lot, including your license. Many people, however, occasionally drive themselves back home slightly above the 0.5 limit (after a good meal or something) but they know they risk a lot and usually feel guilty about it.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2)
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the main problem is that really, one shoudl be responsible for your actions. If you drove while you are drunk it is nobodies fault but yours. You are stupid to do it, and if you hurt someone, you deserve to be punished. It's a silly thing to do. The bartender can't possibly be able to accurately guage whether the 200 people in his bar are above the legal limit for the region, and planning to drive home. It is unreasonable.
thenerd.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2)
That is to say, if somebody gets sloshed at a bar and then T-bones you on the street, you can file two different lawsuits. You can sue the driver, who is fully responsible for driving drunk. You can also sue the bar if they didn't take reasonable precautions to prevent it (like offering to call a cab, asking for the keys, etc.). The bar can't keep you from driving drunk, but it has to put some effort into trying.
So under US alcohol law, drinkers are fully responsible for their actions. The bartenders are responsible for their actions as well; the act of serving drinks.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:1)
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:1, Troll)
In other parts of the world, ones with less conservative puritan moralizing, people arent committing a crime just by being drunk. Further, they are responsible for themselves, and have no Plutocratic Judicial system setting up Lawyers-R-Us liability free-for-alls.
Think about it.
Re:What about the drunks? (Score:2)
In other parts of the world, ones with less conservative puritan moralizing, people arent committing a crime just by being drunk. Further, they are responsible for themselves, and have no Plutocratic Judicial system setting up Lawyers-R-US liability free-for-alls.
Think about it.
note to troll moderators: its only karma, and ive got lots.
How do you... (Score:1)
or is the robot code opensource so you can hack it and teach it how to make it right or how to make something it doesn't know like caipirinha ?
Carefull what you order (Score:4, Funny)
SMS message (Score:2, Insightful)
Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:1)
Why is it that when Ellison pushes stuff like this, everybody screams invasion of privacy, but when a German bar owner does it, the rabid
Nation vs bar (Score:1)
Re:Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:1)
Re:Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:1)
As ever the real problem doesn't lie in whether or not there exists a record of you being somewhere at somewhen but who can get at that information and how easily.
Given the strong feelings against the collection of this data any government that allows easy access (or, heaven forbid, sells) to the data will be thrown out on their ear.
It's important to remember that there will have to be human interaction at some point. No robot will come and arrest you. Think face matching in casinos. The computers just bring suspects to the attention of operators, who then make the decision. Provided that a human makes the final choice on what action to follow there should be cause for complaint.
Re:Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:1)
Dude, it's beer, so privacy doesn't matter. Everyone's too busy thinking of ways to hack it to get more beer, or to not pay for beer. That, or wondering if they could make a beowulf cluster of beer taps in order to perform distributed inebriation.
Maybe that's how the government'll get us to stop fighting ID cards - "Free beer for slashdotters carrying ID cards" outside every bar ^_^
Maran
Re:Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:2)
Because it is completely different, that's why.
This is a trendy bar, that people who like tech can go to, and the bar owners use tech in a cool way. Nothing to be paranoid about. What Ellison is proposing however...
Re:Larry Ellison pops up at any moment (Score:2, Insightful)
You're comparing a hamster to Darth Vader here.
Robotics (Score:2, Informative)
Maran
Cynthia's Cyberbar in London (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.cynbar.co.uk/ [cynbar.co.uk]
The robot was rather clunky and took ages to serve drinks...nothing at all like the nimble robots out of Short Circuit [imdb.com] that mixed drinks. Also, it was all very 'mix this and mix this.' None of the cool presentation you get from a decent bartender. The worst thing is that they have to have a human to take your money anyhow (something to do with not having automated alchol serving machines by law IIRC).
Don't really like the place myself...when I went in about a year back it was all covered in mirrors and hady the most tacky decor. The Anchor [pm.org] nearby is a much better pub, with real beer, seats by the river for the summer and warm fire in the winter in a classic hundred+ year old english pub.
Re:Cynthia's Cyberbar in London (Score:2, Interesting)
Also, the control screen in the back room had a bluish tint to it but I'm sure that was just coincidence
(and I agree, the Anchor is definitely better)
This is great... (Score:1)
Heres a novel solution... (Score:3, Insightful)
Or you could just tell your wife that you're going to the bar. She's your wife, she has the right to know these things.... you'd want to know if she was out at a bar right?
Breathe Into My Ear... (Score:5, Funny)
The patron willingly obliges.
The robot's voice loses its seductive charm and, growing sterner and less human, intones:
"Blood... alcohol... levels... excessive... no... more... alcohol... for... seventy... three... minutes..."
Timothy, get that compulsive knee jerking seen to (Score:3, Troll)
You do know what "pub" is an abbreviation of, right? Public house.
I'll (selectively but honestly) pick one definition [dictionary.com] of public:
Get a clue, get a life, get a job, get a haircut, whatever. But do yourself a favour and don't write single sentences that highlight that you're either trolling or a moron. Although I concede, that's not necessarily an "or" proposition.
Re:Timothy, get that compulsive knee jerking seen (Score:2, Funny)
No no no, it is necessarily an "or" proposition. Just not necessarily an xor one.
Re:Timothy, get that compulsive knee jerking seen (Score:2, Funny)
Sigh. That wasn't Timothy's comment, it was from the poster. That's what the italics mean.
Apparently that error is worth mod points. Go figure.
cbd.
Re:Timothy, get that compulsive knee jerking seen (Score:1)
But can it pour a Guinness ?? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:But can it pour a Guinness ?? (Score:1)
Re:But can it pour a Guinness ?? (Score:1, Funny)
This is cool, not "disturbing"! (Score:4, Interesting)
Is this a site for nerds or what? This bar owner is doing something cool with technology, and the main point you make is that you find it disturbing? What is there to be paranoid about? Really?? I can't think of a reason to find this disturbing. Please explain...
Duh.... (Score:1)
Re:This is cool, not "disturbing"! (Score:2)
"Without your knowing" - except you know the bar has webcams, so if you were trying to hide you'd have to be pretty dumb to be there.
"private place" - errr....pub?(lic)
"without being present" - so it's OK if the bar has windows and he walks past and sees you?
and the best thing about a robot bartender... (Score:1, Funny)
-rp
What's next..... (Score:1)
I mean, they've already synthesized skin, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
*remembers A.I. and that electronic gigolo*
No tipping required!! (Score:2)
Everyone should believe in something . . .
I believe I'll have another drink.
A good thing! (Score:1)
I had been a little disappointed to find that 2000 arrived and this utopia was nowhere in sight... but now, I'm re-energised with hope! Where's my toga?? I'm off to hand in my resignation!
Robots compteting for "food" (Score:2)
Now to get some coffee
Re:Robots competing for "food" (Score:2)
so here are the links
BBC News story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsi
Magna science adventure centre
http://www.magnatrust.org.uk/
Robotic Center with the good info
http://magna.livewwware.com/acg/acgsmg01.dll/ge
Player Piano (Score:1)
And when the bar loosing money (Score:1)
for unsolicitaed alchohol spam. What a wonderful
idea!
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MIGHT ALREADY BE AN ALCOHOLIC! HAVE YOU TRIED OUR BE SOBER IN THREE DAYS PROGRAM!!! ONLY $9.99
Wouldnt you just love that? =)
mailto::recruitment@automaten.com (Score:1)
Cams in bars... (Score:4, Funny)
I guess when your clientele is as attractive as the people who frequent that place on a friday/saturday night, it can't hurt to make views of the place available online...
Re:Cams in bars... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Cams in bars... (Score:2)
thanks for the correction!
Gallamine probably thinks (Score:1)
Perhaps he hasn't witnessed this peculiar behavior, which may or may not be uniquely American: when a camera is present, everybody crowds around it and raises their drink like a trophy. If they could, they would probably email everyone they knew: "Hey, I was just on camera! Turn to channel 7 or go to www.robotbar.com!."
Now its all done automatically.
Cocktails (Score:1)
Out of the closet (Score:1)
Yeah, right!
Heaven (Score:1)
Plus: they are German! A lot of the really cute ones are from there...
Aber beflecke nicht das sofa, sofa...
(This is a test: any Zappa fans on
You'll love it, it's a way of life (Score:1)
From the conspiracy theory dept. (Score:1)
Shut up. You said yourself that it's members only. They know exactly what they're getting into. The cameras aren't on street corners.
German techno-waitresses... (Score:1)
Webcamming not bad (Score:3, Interesting)
What do you tip the bot? (Score:1)
Pointless (Score:1)
Ah well, thank goodness there's always the local pub for brew and browsing!
Und now is de time... (Score:2)
Und now is de time on Sprockets ven ve dance!
Thank you Mike Myers and Saturday Night Live...
like IRC, but real (Score:2)
What's wrong with webcams? (Score:2)
DON'T GO IN THERE!!!!!!!
This would be like telling someone who's about to go on a game show that it will be televised, and having that person balk. Oh no... I thought it was just the hundreds of people in the audience watching. Didn't know there would be a CAMERA for the live televised show.
I've got webcams in my house. I tell anyone who walks in here that only the entire world can watch them. While some seem a bit aprehensive about it at first (and more so when the lights are constantly going on and off), they can at least accept it. I've thought about putting a huge notice by the doorbell that by ringing that bell they provide permission to be broadcast to the world (which they are the moment the doorbell is pressed when the camera in the front door takes a picture)
As with my house, as with the bar, you know the cameras are there. You know that people might get IM'ed if you swipe your card. Your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/boss/annoying best friend/dog will know you're going into that bar. Consider this fact carefully before entering. But don't get disturbed by it. There are for more serious issues in this world than that.
-Restil
Re:What's wrong with webcams? (Score:2)
As I type, the federal government is probably passing yet another post-9/11 "anti-terrorist" law which will most likely serve to take away the average citizens' privacy while doing nothing to make the country a safer place.
So, yes, privacy is important to many people. And these days, once you step over a certain "line" of privacy infringement, you can't go back.
It's entirely fine with me if you feel that you need to broadcast video and sound of yourself as you walk around your house, but please understand that others may not share your viewpoint.
Re:What's wrong with webcams? (Score:2)
-Restil
Re:What's wrong with webcams? (Score:2)
-Restil
human or mechanical (Score:2, Funny)
A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory.
The only thing I want to know... (Score:2)
Sign over entrance: (Score:2)
Rocky IV (Score:2)
Not particularly novel... (Score:2)
I'm sure they didn't do much autonomous thinking, and were probably more like rolling tape recorders than "robots", it was cool, and the operator could take control from the back room and play tic-tac-toe via the robot with an unsuspecting kid.
It was all very impressive to an 8-year old.
There's not that much novelty in being served by robots, at least to me!
Remember Back to the Future 2! (Score:2)
Nice film though.