Official News - page 8

REAL LIFE NEWS: ASK THE WAITDROID FOR WINE TIPS

by Hazed

Every so often we find news stories about various robotic inventions that serve drinks, but they aren't really waitdroids as we know them in Fed DataSpace. Now here's another, but this one comes a little closer. It's a robo-sommelier that can taste and identify types of wine.

The 2 foot tall robot has been developed by NEC System technologies and Mie University. It doesn't have any taste buds so it's not really "tasting" wine - it uses infrared light to identify different flavors. It was originally developed to taste and identify foods, analyzing the different kinds and quantities of ingredients within them, but now the technology has moved into the world of wine.

The green and white robot is capable of distinguishing several different types of blends of grapes, and it could become personalized to recommend wines that suit its owner's palate.

It works by firing infrared light through a sample of food or wine that has been placed on a sensor on its arm. It examines the wavelengths of the light that are absorbed and from them can differentiate between different foods or wines. It then uses a built-in voice function to tell you exactly what it has found.

At this stage, the robot's knowledge of wine is limited. Of the thousands of wines available on the global wine market, this prototype can only distinguish between a few dozen varieties. Still, I expect that can be improved.

So, still nothing like a waitdroid then, but interesting nonetheless.

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