Nashville is getting... robot tiki?

Just saw this online. I'll reserve judgement on their theme/design aesthetic (I can appreciate their trying to push the envelope and forge their own identity, but, honestly, this could either turn out to be very cool or spectacularly awful. I don't see much middle ground possible). What's encouraging is that the partners seem to be from the craft cocktail scene there, and successful ones at that. So they're taking their tiki cocktails seriously. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that their reference to frozen drinks isn't code for typical boat drinks.

https://nashville.eater.com/2017/8/24/16194918/chopper-tiki-bar-nashville

Interesting, we may see more of this if the technology is reliable and the customers have fun.

Just yesterday someone asked me about robot bartenders. My response (in many more words cuz I had to explain some basic concepts and define some terms) was that robots are all about consistency of drinks, uniqueness of the experience in the market, enjoyment by the customer, and above all - SHOWMANSHIP. If the technology is cost-effective and reliable, and the customer has fun with the show, and drinks always taste good, you may have a winner. This reminds me - there are a number of "robot showmen" in the Orlando theme parks who behave very consistently, don't get sick, don't make demands, don't take vacations or breaks, and who don't need pay. Their employers love 'em!

Since tiki has historically always changed and evolved, I'd like to hear Sven's take on this.

I'm not sure what to think yet. I'll be keeping a close eye on it, though.

I don't think they'll actually have robotic wait staff. From what I read and saw, the aesthetic is going to be a mash-up of robotic elements with tiki design. I'm sure it'll all become clearer as they get closer to opening and more photos become available.

The rumored principals have good craft cocktail credentials; and taste- but not convinced any know the first thing about tiki culture.

[ Edited by: BambooRadley 2017-08-24 22:09 ]

"robot showmen" in the Orlando theme parks who behave very consistently, don't get sick, don't make demands, don't take vacations or breaks, and who don't need pay. Their employers love 'em!"

See that's not true.
Robots do take breaks when they break down, or when they need to be updated.
Then you are paying a guy who works on them, many times more than one guy.

"don't make demands"
They do make demands in the form of routine maintenance, Honda plant would shut down for some time every now and then to do this.

Plus can you even imagine the logistics of a robot bartender, miles of tubing for the drink ingredients, the cleaning of these tubes and other parts of this robot would be done by one of those pesky humans.
And if that robot bartender goes down your closed, and getting a repair guy can take time.
I know I used to sell Coke, the drink.

Now they can cut costs even with these problems, but damn a bar is one place you need that human touch.

Robotic tiki could be cool, if done right. But that name...hope that doesn't doom it to becoming a biker bar. I don't know the demographics of the area, but a bunch of loud weekend warriors would keep me away and ruin the atmosphere of a tiki bar, in my opinion.

"robot showmen" in the Orlando theme parks.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0j69pAM7g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7usaU0ep3s&list=RDYF0j69pAM7g&index=3

Expedition Everest Yeti has been broken for ten years!
So that’s a ten year day off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb63xsCO6lA&index=30&list=RDYF0j69pAM7g

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-08-25 07:37 ]

On 2017-08-25 05:56, tikiskip wrote:
...See that's not true.
...They do make demands...
...cleaning of these tubes...
...if that robot bartender goes down your closed...
...they can cut costs even with these problems, but damn a bar is one place you need that human touch...

Hey skip! Thanks for the feedback on my comments. I was trying to be careful by qualifying my comments with a few things like "stable technology," which meant high reliability. And the whole "show" aspect means you can't just put up a robot - it has to be entertaining as well, and wrapped in a cool environment. And yes, fully agree about the human touch, but the drink making is being automated on an experimental basis whether we like it or not. Dunno if it will work, or if it will last, but that's where good accompanying show design is required. The whole package is a show. But with good engineering and design, and good preventative maintenance, you can get high mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) numbers. This is one of the reasons that there are lots of similar robotic things working quite well in our world, although drink makers are still rare.

So, how about automation (a "robot" of sorts) that MAKES the drinks coupled with bartenders and waitresses? You would be selling the novelty of the process, speedy service, and the owner would get their drinks per hour way higher than one or two or three people behind the stick could do. Service could be surprisingly fast, consistency way good, and the overall customer experience may be superb. So I won't throw any cold water on the idea until they get their concept out there for us to observe and experience. (And then mercilessly critique here, LOL!)

Reminds me... One in our tiki community is a robot/animation engineer in the entertainment world. He doesn't post here, or even log in, but I'd guess he could quote some solid info on how reliable these things are and what it takes to keep 'em running smoothly.

By the way, a "robot" doesn't have to be a Disney or Chuck-E-Cheese automaton. It can simply be a box on the back counter (or two boxes, or three boxes, etc. for redundancy) that makes the drinks. Someone would still have to deliver the drinks to customers even if ordering were to be done by bar-top iPads, iPhone apps, etc. And we're already purging and sanitizing our LONG Perlick runs to the keg reefers, so the same would extend to the cocktail automation.

Slightly different subject --- smart phone apps are gaining more traction. Even old-school tiki bars like the Molokai Bar at the Mai-Kai could eventually start using this sort of technology in the not-too-distant future. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that order accuracy, efficiency improvements with billing, inventory, credit card batch closing, and after-closing accounting -and more- eventually lead our fave tropical themed watering holes to insert more technology between our servers and customers. Sooooo....

....I don't like the idea of robots making drinks, especially in old-school environments like tiki bars. It's just not traditional. I like PEOPLE demonstrating their skill along with the human touch, and some inconsistency comes with it. But there will always be shortcut hunters, and novelty sellers, and automation fits in to this category of people. So that's really what this Nashville place is sounding like. And the manufacturer is probably cutting them a killer deal on the machines cuz they need to get their products into production so they can sell more of them. Whatever. Cuz I can't stop them even if I wanted to.

Imagine a "Back To The Future" themed bar with robot drink makers. That would be more appropriate than in a tiki setting. But if the machines become small and reliable, and make people a lot of money, then it could become much more common.

So have I been talking out of both sides of my mouth? Maybe. But I'm just thinking out loud here, so what the hell, right? :)

Cheers!

On 2017-08-25 07:12, tikiskip wrote:
"robot showmen" in the Orlando theme parks.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0j69pAM7g

Hey skip, very old video, that's hilarious. I've heard of much worse-looking failures back in the days when they used industrial RED hydraulic fluid. They use better tubing and fittings and valves today to make these issues almost impossible. Plus electronic compliance sensors will trigger software to perform partial -or- whole shutdowns if a figure does something which is outside of permitted ranges of motion.

While funny, that vid is not a good comparison because: 1) He's one of hundreds. 2) These failures are rare, but they do occur. 3) Drink machines don't require the use of the same high-pressure hydraulics and a zillion sensors and lots of complex single-instance software. 4) Many improvements have been made since that specific figure was in use - it's been completely replaced at least twice with newer generation technology. I know because I was at the "factory," lol.

Ok, so I have some exposure to PLCs and motion control systems in general... heh...

Edit: I changed "single-use software" to the more correct "single-instance software," meaning for one-of-a-kind figures, although the motion control software has become WAY standardized and toolkit-oriented in today's motion bases and figures. Hey wait, this is a "tiki" discussion system... Ok, tiki drinks make me more -- animated... ha!

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2017-08-25 07:44 ]

"Thanks for the feedback on my comments"

Well no, I was adding to a thread started by someone else.
Some of my post did respond to what you said as well.

"While funny, that vid is not a good comparison because: 1) He's one of hundreds. 2) These failures are rare, but they do occur."

Expedition Everest Yeti has been broken for ten years!
So that’s a ten year day off.

I had posted some new ones while you posted this here they are.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7usaU0ep3s&list=RDYF0j69pAM7g&index=3

Expedition Everest Yeti has been broken for ten years!
So that’s a ten year day off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb63xsCO6lA&index=30&list=RDYF0j69pAM7g

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2017-08-25 07:46 ]

None of that was directed at you.
More of a hey technology has problems too kind of thing.

Do you work in that field?
It seams like you are in a way vested to the idea.

It looks like when these things break down like three or more guys come out to fix them.

Sorry I'm old school and don't like many new things really.
Look what happens when a computerized cash register (Or POS)goes down at a business or there is a power outage.
They close, it's over for the day.

On 2017-08-25 07:53, tikiskip wrote:
None of that was directed at you.
More of a hey technology has problems too kind of thing.

Do you work in that field?
It seams like you are in a way vested to the idea.

It looks like when these things break down like three or more guys come out to fix them.

Sorry I'm old school and don't like many new things really.
Look what happens when a computerized cash register (Or POS)goes down at a business or there is a power outage.
They close, it's over for the day.

Nah, didn't take it that way at all, but I have worked for a couple interesting companies, including a former Imagineer and his company and my team did some cool stuff with attraction-based lighting and show control and special effects. I'm currently involved in technology and process improvement projects, plus a handful of other ridiculously fun things.

Breakdowns are a multi-team party-o-joy, sometimes due to unions. Gotta have a separate mechanical guy, an electrical guy, a hydraulics guy, an operations guy, and maybe a bored supervisor for good measure and to write up an incident report. Oh, and sometimes a cleanup guy.

I gave up on resisting change a long time ago. I found that when I dropped my resistance to things it made it much easier to see other points of view and WHY people wanted to try funky new things, even if they were early adopters and reliability was still low. And then I also started to see that there was also the manufacturer offering steep discounts to make things more profitable for the early adopters, and so the manufacturer could garner more publicity for their brand-spanking new products and inventions, etc. etc. etc.

By the way, when a computerized cash register (modern POS system) goes down at a business or there is a power outage, it's only over for the day for the poor guys who don't anticipate that problem and who don't have an effective backup plan. See - I'm a process guy too. The more you marry technology and processes and business sense, the more successful you are likely to be when adversity strikes. And adversity strikes us all.

I have some interesting stories I can tell when we're at a bar sometime... One of these days we'll cross paths and see who can make the other person first to pass out at the bar, lol!!!

On 2017-08-25 07:45, tikiskip wrote:
Expedition Everest Yeti has been broken for ten years!
So that’s a ten year day off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb63xsCO6lA&index=30&list=RDYF0j69pAM7g

So I think I know what happened, but don't quote me 100% on these things. Bob Gurr and his team didn't know they didn't build the frame to handle the very high and oft-repeated long-term stresses. It was one-of-a-kind by nature and was time-constrained (YAY BUYERS/PLANNERS!) budget-constrained (YAY BEAN COUNTERS!) or otherwise impractical to properly cycle-test. They also didn't have an adequate book of business to remain a "going concern" and they don't exist as an entity anymore - big mistake by Disney to buy from such a group when there were others available. But Disney really wanted to honor Bob Gurr and his legacy. So Disney contracted with his team and ended up having the effect built with only small repairs in mind, and not for large repairs like removing/replacing large segments of the core Yeti's frame. As a result the process of repairing / replacing the broken stuff requires some pretty dramatic opening/closing of the structures around it (with lots of wiring and other delicate and costly stuff in the way) and lots of downtime and lots of expense. Basically, they found that they need a whole new Yeti from another company because nobody trusts (and is willing to repair) a known deficient design. Any repair may work but may cause other components around the repair to also fail for similar reasons.

There's much more which could be said involving the original "Kong" figures at Universal's parks too...

So now I risk drawing the ire of the Disney fans who frequent Tiki Central, lol!!! (I am a Disney parks fan myself. I grew up with theme parks in a "theme park family." My dad was involved in building/testing coasters and themed areas/lands, one brother was a wooden coaster maint guy, another brother a pyro/fireworks guy, and I myself was.... [REDACTED BY THE NSA])

Edited to correct some big typos thanks to a wrist brace I'm wearing this week...

[ Edited by: AceExplorer 2017-08-25 08:35 ]

"it's only over for the day for the poor guys who don't anticipate that problem and who don't have an effective backup plan"

See computers are changing people though, people can't make change (as in from your food bill), people don't know how to add the tax to a bill without the computer.

Do you know any phone numbers by heart?

People are not as hands on, they don't know their stock.
Damn I used to go to an electric supply place and the guys behind the counter knew every part number by heart, and how many they had.

With computers it's never done, you need to update often.
And that register that cost like $40.00 bucks and it lasted me over 15 years and was only replaced because of a robbery where they stole it.

That $40.00 bucks register now starts at $5000 for a cheap system.
Then you call a guy in to repair and fix it.
But the $5000 system counts EVERY bean and helps the IRS bust you if they come knocking.

Small businesses can't afford that BS.
AND that is why big corporations love regulations many times as big corporations can afford the higher cost of doing business and they know it will kill smaller places.