I saw a robot making coffee in a Denver airport and it felt like a weird step back

It was at a kiosk near gate B45, this single arm moving with stiff, slow motions to pour a pre-made latte. The line was longer than the human barista's next to it because the machine kept pausing to recalibrate. It took over three minutes for one drink. Why are we pushing these clunky, slow public demos instead of fixing the basics first? Has anyone else seen an AI thing in the wild that just made you think 'this isn't it'?

3 comments

3 Comments

gavinwood4d ago

That robot barista sounds like a total waste of space. My local grocery store put in a "smart" cart that yells at you if you put a bag in the wrong spot. It's slower than a regular cart and just makes everyone angry. @phoenix845 is right, we're building fixes for problems that don't exist.

samschmidt1mo ago

But that's how all new tech starts, right?

phoenix8451mo ago

Yeah that's how it starts, but I read this article about how a lot of new tech just solves problems we made for ourselves. Makes you wonder what we're really building for.

-1