Spanish inventors build world's first beer robot
Three Spanish entrepreneurs have invented the world's first automatic draft beer dispenser.
The "autobarman" is the product of four years of hard work by three Granada businessmen who couldn't believe there wasn't a similar model already on the market.
Alfonso Vázquez came up with the idea at a music festival after waiting in long queues to then be served warm beer.
"I kept thinking to myself that there had to be a way of shortening the wait," Vázquez told Spanish daily El Mundo.
"I soon realized how beneficial the autobarman could be for a businessman: it serves more beers in less time so there are fewer queues.
"It doesn't make employees redundant because they can be busy serving other drinks that cost more money.
"In fact you create another job because there has to be someone changing the machine’s beer barrels."
The autobarman can store two to four casks of beer which are kept cold by a cooling coil.
But the hardest part has been how to get the dispenser to serve the beer with the right pressure and foam.
"It's taken us years," says Vázquez.
"A regular barman learns how to serve the right beer with practice and does it instinctively."
Vázquez plans to sell their device to concert halls and venues with ticket-only access.
"It won't be available in the street and minors won't have access to it," he explains.
Although Vázquez says the autobarman hasn't received much attention from the beer companies because "they don't really care how it’s served", he is adamant the autobarman will prove a success.
"We're Spaniards innovating in times of crisis, someone will be interested," he says.
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The "autobarman" is the product of four years of hard work by three Granada businessmen who couldn't believe there wasn't a similar model already on the market.
Alfonso Vázquez came up with the idea at a music festival after waiting in long queues to then be served warm beer.
"I kept thinking to myself that there had to be a way of shortening the wait," Vázquez told Spanish daily El Mundo.
"I soon realized how beneficial the autobarman could be for a businessman: it serves more beers in less time so there are fewer queues.
"It doesn't make employees redundant because they can be busy serving other drinks that cost more money.
"In fact you create another job because there has to be someone changing the machine’s beer barrels."
The autobarman can store two to four casks of beer which are kept cold by a cooling coil.
But the hardest part has been how to get the dispenser to serve the beer with the right pressure and foam.
"It's taken us years," says Vázquez.
"A regular barman learns how to serve the right beer with practice and does it instinctively."
Vázquez plans to sell their device to concert halls and venues with ticket-only access.
"It won't be available in the street and minors won't have access to it," he explains.
Although Vázquez says the autobarman hasn't received much attention from the beer companies because "they don't really care how it’s served", he is adamant the autobarman will prove a success.
"We're Spaniards innovating in times of crisis, someone will be interested," he says.
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