Makr Shakr (pronounced Maker Shaker) is a producer of robotic bartenders and baristas based in
Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. The robots receive orders from customers via mobile devices, and leverage automation technologies to prepare different beverages.
Research and development
Development for Makr Shakr's robotic bartenders began at
MIT Senseable City Lab The MIT Senseable City Laboratory is a digital laboratory within MIT's City Design and Development group, within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, which works in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab. The lab aims to investigate and ant ...
led by professor
Carlo Ratti, with the support of the
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
and
Bacardi. It originated from the concept to leverage digital technologies to "explores the new dynamics of social creation and consumption".
The prototype is equipped with the ability to perform motions essential to bartending like shaking, muddling and slicing. In addition, cocktail-making is "crowdsourced" through a mobile app inviting individual users to contribute their own recipes. Its movement is modelled after the choreography by
New York Theater Ballet's Marco Pelle.
Makr Shakr was first introduced to the public through various international technology and design events. After a test run in April 2013 during the Milan Design Week, three mechanical arms were deployed at the Google I/O Conference in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
a month later.
In 2014, Makr Shakr received design awards by Core 77 and D&AD for its concept and digital interface respectively.
Commercial launch
Makr Shakr was launched commercially as a start-up in 2017, with an assembly line set up in Turin, Italy. It partners with the German automative system manufacturer
KUKA
KUKA is a German manufacturer of industrial robots and factory automation systems. In 2016, the company was acquired by the Chinese appliance manufacturer Midea Group.
It has 25 subsidiaries in countries including the United States, the Eur ...
in producing the robotic bartenders.
Operating at a rate of 60-90 seconds per drink, the brand's various models are implemented in cities such as
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
,
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. The Bionic Bar, produced by Makr Shakr, is installed in nine cruise ships of cruise line
Royal Caribbean.
The company is set to debut in
Changi Airport
Singapore Changi Airport ( ; ) is the primary international airport that serves the country of Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. More than 100 airlines operate from the airport, with flights to destinations in A ...
,
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Bali
Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...
,
Olympia, Wa and
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
in 2024.
The company's flagship robot Toni featured in the exhibition "AI: More Than Human" at
the Barbican
Barbican is a type of fortified building.
Barbican may also refer to:
* Barbican (drink), a brand of malt beverage in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
* Barbican Estate, a residential estate in London
** Barbican Centre, an arts centre in London
** Barb ...
, London in 2019.
Influence on restaurants and bars
As the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
pandemic drastically affected the food and beverage business, Makr Shakr was credited in media as one of the robotic devices that have offered solutions to alleviate the difficult situation faced by the industry, from reducing human contact and the possibility to spread the virus, to providing relief for the shortage of manpower.
In late 2019, the brand initiated the pilot of a stipend program in the US, in collaboration with
SUNY Erie
SUNY Erie is a Public college, public community colleges in the United States, community college with three campuses in western New York (state), New York that serve residents in and near Erie County, New York, Erie County.
It is part of the St ...
Community College,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
. With the sale of every robotic unit, the company offered parts of the proceeds to a selected individual whose livelihood had been affected by automation to acquire a new professional skill. The first stipend recipient was sponsored to study in the Brewery Science and Service Program.
See also
*
Automated restaurant
References
{{reflist
Italian companies established in 2017
Organisations based in Turin
Bartending equipment
Robotics companies
Robotics at KUKA