---
title: "This Robot Barista Is Faster Than a Human, and It Just Started Work in San Fran"
description: "Gordon is a robotic arm that serves seven types of coffee drinks, including espressos and cafe lattes, from a toll-booth sized stall in a San Francisco shopping complex. This system is another example of how robots and automation are replacing jobs traditionally held by people, doing them more efficiently and cheaply."
date: "2017-01-31"
modified: "2017-01-31"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/this-robot-barista-is-faster-than-a-human-and-it-just-started-work-in-san-fran"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "automation"
  - "gordon"
  - "job displacement"
  - "robot barista"
---

# This Robot Barista Is Faster Than a Human, and It Just Started Work in San Fran

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/A_robotic_barista_is_now_serving_really-fastring_Test_copy.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://cafexapp.com/" target="\_blank"\>Cafe X\</a\>\</em\>*

Gordon is a robotic arm that serves coffee in a San Francisco shopping complex. It's the first robotic barista in the U.S., and it could serve about 120 coffees in an hour. "A lot of us spend a lot of time in line waiting for coffee," Henry Hu, CEO of [Cafe X Technologies](<https://cafexapp.com/>), the local start-up that created the robot, [tells *USA Today*](<http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/01/30/robotic-barista-now-serving-really-fast/95888780/>). "And we decided to do something about it."

Cafe X Technologies built a toll-booth sized stall to house Gordon, and customers can approach the stall or order via a mobile app. Gordon can serve seven drinks, including espressos and cafe lattes, for about $2.25 to $2.95 per 8-ounce cup. This system won't get your name wrong, either. After choosing their type of drink, flavor, and intensity of flavor, customers enter a mobile number to get a four-digit code and then pay. When their drink is ready, they receive a text message.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5GXK1onZWc

Gordon is an example of how automated systems are replacing jobs bit by bit. "We're an inflection point where technology will get smarter and smarter, and adapt to people — for years, it was just the opposite," says [Accenture](<https://www.accenture.com/us-en/new-applied-now>) CTO [Paul Daugherty](<http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/01/30/robotic-barista-now-serving-really-fast/95888780/>).

[Automation and digitization](<https://futurism.com/automation-and-robots-could-permanently-disrupt-capitalism>) are expected to displace jobs in several industries, including [manufacturing](<https://futurism.com/the-new-age-of-automation-how-robots-produce-100000-computers-a-week>), [clerical and public services](<https://futurism.com/life-insurance-company-is-replacing-human-employees-with-ai>), [legal work](<https://futurism.com/new-report-predicts-over-100000-legal-jobs-would-be-lost-to-technological-automation>), and [even IT](<https://futurism.com/80-of-it-jobs-can-be-replaced-by-automation-and-its-exciting>). How we will deal with that loss is still up for debate, with potential solutions including [advanced education](<https://futurism.com/white-house-releases-a-solution-to-automation-caused-job-loss>) and universal basic income (UBI).

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)