Downtime

Meet the world's first robotic barman. Mr Asahi has recently made his London debut. The brainchild of Japanese brewer Asahi, the robot trained for six months ahead of the gig at Selfridges. According to the specification sheet, he is capable of serving people in under two minutes, saving the average person 13 minutes at the bar. 200 man hours in development, Mr Asahi is based on a PC which controls and regulates compressed air through various valves and electrical switching mechanisms to provide the animatronics required to pull a pint of beer.