'Query: What Will You Hav-[Correction!] Fact: I Think You Have Had Quite Enough.'

Robot Bartender Pours, Listens

from LiveScience

The T-Rot thinking robot will make its public debut at the APEC forum underway now in Busan, Korea. T-Rot is shown tending bar at the Robot Cafe, pouring a drink for Kim Mun-Sang, director of the Ministry of Science and Technology Robot taskforce.

T-Rot has two cameras which help it recognize both people and objects - like bottles, glasses and refrigerators - and see their position in three dimensions. It also has the capability of listening to customers and responding with appropriate conversational comments.

In order to correctly apply force to different objects, T-Rot has special skin developed by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science. This allows T-Rot to apply the correct pressure in a handshake with a person, or in holding a delicate glass. T-Rot can even pick up eggs without breaking them.