"People gather around a robot arm in a café, half for the drink and half for the performance. Most automation in food and beverage still feels either like a vending machine or a novelty, and the real challenge is capturing the craft of a skilled barista or maker, not just the motion of pushing buttons. The difference between a decent latte and a great one often comes down to subtle pressure, timing, and feel."
""At first, I thought making coffee was easy, but after talking to professional baristas, we realized it is not simple at all. There are a lot of details and nuances that go into making a good cup of coffee," says Meng Wang, CEO of Artly."
"At CES 2026, that philosophy shows up in two compact robots, the mini BaristaBot and the Bartender, both built on the same AI arm platform but trained for different kinds of counters. Together, they make a case for automation that respects the shape of the work instead of flattening it. The mini BaristaBot is a fully autonomous café squeezed into a 4 × 4 ft footprint, designed for high-traffic, labor-constrained spaces like airports, offices, and retail corners."
People are drawn to robotic counters both for beverages and for the performance of making them. Artly trains robot arms as apprentices, using motion capture, multi-camera video, and expert explanation to capture nuanced craft. Two compact machines at CES 2026 — the mini BaristaBot and the Bartender — share an AI arm platform but target different counters. The mini BaristaBot fits a 4 × 4 ft footprint and handles grinding, tamping, brewing, steaming, and pouring. Artly’s Skill Engine breaks tasks into reusable blocks that recombine into recipes, enabling milk texturing, latte art, and menu adaptation.
Read at Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News
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