--- title: "This Cafe Is Using a Robot Barista to Avoid Spreading COVID" description: "A cafe in Daejon, South Korea has hired a robot barista to take care of making and busing drinks around to avoid spreading the coronavirus." date: "2020-05-26" modified: "2020-05-26" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor.md" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cafe-using-robot-avoid-spreading-covid" categories: - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "robot barista" - "South Korea" - "the digest" --- # This Cafe Is Using a Robot Barista to Avoid Spreading COVID ![A cafe in Daejon, South Korea has hired a robot barista to take care of making and busing drinks around to avoid spreading the coronavirus.]() *\Image: Reuters\* ## Robot Barista As South Korea recovers from the deadly coronavirus, businesses are getting creative to ensure their customers are safe. Case in point: a café in Daejon, South Korea has hired a robot barista to take care of making and busing drinks around, [*Reuters* reports](). Thanks to the robot, the café only has to employ a single human, who takes care of making pastries, as well as servicing and refilling their robot coworker. The robot can make 60 different types of coffee and deliver them to customers around the café. ## Untact The company behind the robot, Vision Semicon, is hoping its fleet of mechanical workers could help while South Korean society adjusts to what officials are calling "[distancing in daily life]()" — the next phase of the government's efforts to relax social distancing rules. "Our system needs no input from people from order to delivery, and tables were sparsely arranged to ensure smooth movements of the robots, which fits will with the current ‘untact’ and distancing campaign," Lee Dong-bae, director of research at Vision Semicon, told *Reuters*. A downside: even more jobs could be lost as a result of the coronavirus. South Korea's unemployment rate was not spared by the pandemic, which [in April]() saw its largest decline since 1999. **READ MORE:** [South Korean cafe hires robot barista to help with social distancing]() \[*Reuters*\] **More on robots:** *[“Biobots” Will Serve Alongside South Korean Soldiers by 2024]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [Government Robot Falls Down Stairs, Dies]() - [North Korea: Squid Game Is Proof Capitalism Doesn’t Work]() - [There’s a Resurgence of Coronavirus Cases in China]() - [South Korean President Announces Plans To Land On The Moon By 2030]() - [New K-Pop Band Will Include an Entirely CGI Singer]() - [Microsoft Claims Russia and North Korea Hacked COVID Vaccine Data]() - [South Korea Sentences Man for Creating Child Abuse Images Using AI]() - [Scientist Invents Toilet That Turns Human Feces Into Cryptocurrency]()