Barney the bartender – Text for reading comprehension
Barney is a bit different from your usual Swiss bartender. He is fully automated, mixes dozens of cocktails and even makes terrible jokes.
F & P Robotics, the Zurich company which makes the robot, hopes that “The Barney Bar” will be a hit among hotels, bars and shopping centres who want to reduce human contact during and after the coronavirus pandemic. They have already sold robots to China and Oman, where a mocktail making robot works in a shopping mall.
Barney can mix 16 different spirits and eight different sodas for customers who place their orders via their mobile phones, as well as offering beer and prosecco. The robot, who can disinfect his own robotic arm, tells them their drink is ready via a large video display above the bar.
Barney can be loaded up with conversations, so it can make “jokes” about being offered a role in the latest Terminator film, for example.
Barney could be the solution for customers who want a barman who works 24 hours a day while reducing human contact.