Riding the Bar

Do you ever leave work in town with a dire need for a glass of vino? Does the long commute home by bus take a little too long and become harrowing – almost too much to bare?

Imagine an UberEats for stressed-out soccer-mums and you’ve got Italian designer, Carlo Ratti’s latest concept idea in collaboration with robotic bartender, Makr Shakr. Offering city-dwellers a new way to enjoy an al fresco drink, Ratti has developed an autonomous cafe/bar that you can order via an app to pop up wherever you are in a city with a pre-mixed cocktail.

Aptly named Guido (which translates to ‘I drive’ in Italian), the bar is mounted on the cart with the capacity to hold up to 170 bottles of spirit and has the ability to scan customer ID’s to verify their age and facilitate their payments via their phone. With two mechanic arms; one for shaking and stirring, the other for serving, the bar uses self-driving technology in order to move swiftly on command. While it’s still in its concept stage, it may not be too long before we’ll see this as part of the changing future of our cityscapes.