Will your next barista be a robot

Will your next barista be a robot?

GAVIN PATHROSS likes his Americano at a particular strength, with exactly 2.8 shots of espresso, an order that human baristas struggle to get right. But the baristas at Ratio, his new coffee shop in Shanghai, are anything but human. Customers specify, order and pay for their coffee via their smartphones. A robot arm then grinds the beans, pumps shots of espresso and carries out${}^1$ the rest of the work. The robot can supply water and coffee in any ratio desired — hence the shop’s name. Once it has prepared the beverage, it passes the finished product to a human waiter for serving.

barista [bəˈri:stə] 咖啡师
espresso [eˈspresəʊ] 浓缩咖啡
grind [graɪnd] 磨碎
pumps 泵
hence [hens] 因此
beverage [ˈbevərɪdʒ] 饮料

加文·帕特罗斯(GAVIN PATHROSS)特别喜欢他的美式咖啡，只有2.8杯浓咖啡，这是人类咖啡师很难做到的。但他在上海新开的咖啡店Ratio里的咖啡师绝非真人。顾客通过他们的智能手机指定、订购和支付咖啡。然后，一个机器人手臂将咖啡豆磨碎，倒几杯浓咖啡，然后 (开展)${}^1$ 完成剩下的工作。该机器人可以按任何比例提供所需的水和咖啡——因此得名。一旦准备好了饮料，它就会把成品递给人类服务员

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Ratio’s robot baristas are part of a trend${}^1$. Hamburger joints and other fast-food outlets are starting to be robotised in some places. Now it is the turn of cafés. Mr Pathross’s Shanghai shop is, at the moment, a one-off${}^2$. But Coffee Haus is a commercial system intended for deployment in airports, offices and other high-volume locations. It is the brainchild of Chas Studor, founder of Briggo, a firm in Austin, Texas. Under his guidance Briggo’s engineers have developed a device that is a couple of metres tall, four metres across, and can turn out 100 cups an hour.

joint [dʒɔɪnt] 共同的
outlets 经销店
brainchild 独创的观点，发明
a couple of 两个，几个
across 宽

Ratio机器人咖啡店只是潮流一个侧面${}^1$，有些地方的汉堡和其他快餐店铺正尝试机器化服务。现在轮到咖啡店了。此时此刻，Pathross先生在上海的店铺绝无仅有${}^2$。但是Haus咖啡是一家商用系统，倾向在机场，办公楼和其他人流密集地点设置。这是Chas Studor的发明，他创立了一家位于德州奥斯丁的公司Briggo。在他的引导下，Briggo公司工程师已经研发一种设备，尺寸两米高四米宽，一小时可出品100杯咖啡。

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Briggo has cut human beings out of the loop completely. A Coffee Haus machine lets you order and pay for your coffee via an app — and, if you have done so remotely, keeps your drink in a locked area, accessible via a code which it texts to you. For those present, the Coffee Haus robot provides a certain amount${}^1$ of theatrical appeal (a window lets you watch the coffee being made). But Mr Studor says the real aim is not theatre but to carry out the same processes as a standard coffee bar does, with robotic precision. For example, a big challenge for human baristas is that different types of coffee have different ideal “extraction parameters”— how many beans to how much water, brewed at what temperature and for how long. During busy spells${}^2$, humans sometimes struggle to get all of these things right every time. The robot is inhumanly perfect.

theatrical [θiˈætrɪkl] 戏剧的
precision [prɪˈsɪʒn] 精确的（触控板的驱动就是windows precision）
extraction [ɪkˈstrækʃn] 取出，提取物
parameters [pə’ræmɪtəz] 因素，参数
brew [bru:] 酿造，煮(brew coffee)
spell 轮班，轮替
inhumanly 不人道的，非常

Briggo把人类完全排除在外。一台咖啡馆的机器可以让你通过一个应用程序订购咖啡并支付费用——如果你是远程订购的话，它会把你的咖啡放在一个锁定的区域里，通过它发送给你的代码来访问。对于现在的人来说，咖啡屋机器人提供了一定程度${}^1$ 的戏剧吸引力(一扇窗户可以让你看到正在煮的咖啡)。但Studor表示，真正的目标不是剧院，而是像标准的咖啡吧一样，以机器人般的精度进行同样的流程。例如，对人类咖啡师来说，一个巨大的挑战是，不同类型的咖啡有不同的理想“萃取参数”——多少豆子需要多少水，在什么温度下煮，煮多久。在忙碌的时候${}^2$，人类有时很难每次都把这些事情做好。这个机器人非常完美。

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Café X in San Francisco takes advantage of the showy appeal of robots. Its computer arm, which is described as having “a quirky personality,” even waves to customers. Café X sells mostly from kiosks in streets and shopping malls. Orders can be made from an app or via touch screen at the kiosk itself. But it has not dispensed with${}^1$ human attendants and has someone on hand${}^2$ to talk to customers and provide a human touch.

showy 引人注目的
quirky ['kwɜ:kɪ] 古怪的，诡诈的
kiosk [ˈki:ɒsk] 小摊棚
dispense [dɪˈspens] 分配，免除，豁免
attender 出席者

旧金山的Cafe X充分利用了机器人的炫目魅力。它的电脑部门，被描述为“古怪的个性”，甚至向顾客招手。Cafe X主要在街道和购物中心的小卖部销售。订购可以通过应用程序完成，也可以通过小摊内的触摸屏完成。但它并没有抛弃${}^1$ 人类服务员，而是有专人 在附近${}^2$ 与顾客交谈，并提供人性化的接触。

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All developers of robot baristas stress the speed, reliability and consistency of their systems. They give the convenience of vending-machine${}^1$ coffee without the horror of it. And coffee is only the start. Soon, such devices will be making tea and other drinks at the tap of an app. Human servers, meanwhile, will be freed from the drudgery of preparing endless lattes, to concentrate on customer service. Whether the outcome is viewed as people and machines each playing to their strengths${}^2$ in a harmonious team, or a corporate techno-dystopia${}^3$ with a Starbucks twist, is perhaps — like preferences in${}^4$ coffee — a matter of taste.

stress 强调
consistency [kənˈsɪstənsi] 一致性
vend [vend] 出售（尤指土地等财产）；（尤指在公共场所）贩卖;发表（意见，言论）
drudgery [ˈdrʌdʒəri] 单调沉闷的工作，苦工
latte 拿铁
harmonious [hɑ:ˈməʊniəs] 和谐的，融洽的
twist 扭成一束，旋转，特色
Utopia/Eutopia [ju:ˈtəʊpi:ə] 乌托邦
Dystopia [dɪsˈtəʊpiə] 反乌托邦

所有机器人咖啡师的开发人员都强调他们的系统的速度、可靠性和一致性。他们的自动售货机${}^1$ 咖啡给人们提供了便利，并且不用惧怕它（这个咖啡）。而咖啡只是个开始。很快，这类设备就可以通过应用程序制作茶和其他饮料。与此同时，人类服务员将从无休止准备拿铁的苦差事中解放出来，专注于客户服务。不管结果是被视为在一个和谐的团队中各尽所能${}^2$ 的人和机器，还是被视为一个带有星巴克特色的科技反乌托邦企业${}^3$，或许就像人们对咖啡的偏好${}^4$ 一样，只是口味的问题。