The world’s first drone café, which uses tiny unmanned aerial vehicles as servers, has opened in a Dutch University. The pop-up drone café is to serve up through the weekend as part of celebrations for the Dream and Dare Festival, marking the 60th anniversary of the Eindhoven University of Technology.
The server drone is nicknamed Blue Jay which resembles a small white flying saucer. It has an eye-like strip, hovers to a table to take a client’s order. The customer then points to the list to signal what they would like to order. The drinks are taken and carried by a set of pinchers underneath the drone. The 20 students who built this drone aim to show how such small autonomous device could help and become an essential part of modern daily life.
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The World’s First Drone Café
These aerial machines show in a bid to carry out delicate tasks such as delivering medical products or even assist in tracking down burglars. Each drone in the drone café has an estimated cost of 2,000 euros to build. A project funded by the university which the students claim is ‘to give a glimpse of the future’.
With the sensors and long battery life installed in it, the drone can fly its way through the crowded interiors of the drone café, unlike other drones that depend on a GPS system for navigation.
Robo-butlers are getting more famous. Last year, Cornell University created a robot that serves food and drinks and also helps its owner tidy up. The robot scans the area and acknowledges that its owner is carrying a pot of food and moving towards the fridge. The robot then opens the fridge door automatically.
“The Blue Jay is an intelligent bird that lives in complex, social environments,” the students say in a video presenting their work.
The students believe the application of the drone’s abilities is enormous. So many uses such as extinguisher device to put out fires, alarm systems to warn of intruders or mini-servants which would respond to commands such as ‘fetch me an apple.’
One of the students in the video presentation says ,“We believe that one day, domestic drones will be a part of society. One day, a drone could be a friend.”
Other Autonomous Robots
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In 2013, a beer-pouring robot that was capable of reading people’s body movements also study and anticipate when a person wants another drink was designed and created by American students.
Microsoft Kinect sensors and 3D cameras was adopted by researchers from Cornell University to assist the robot analyze its surroundings and identify its owner’s needs.
The robot then operates on a database of videos showing 120 different many household tasks to spot and identify nearby objects, create a set of possible outcomes and choose which optimum action it should take – without being told.
Watch the video below
