VIDEO: Mr Asahi real-life robotic barman revealed

Pint-pulling automaton

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26 May 2009 15:53 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Sure, it's blatant advertising, but we're suckers for a good robot and, as robots go, Mr Asahi ranks pretty high in our book, if only for his beer serving skills.

The robotic barman can serve beer as draught pints, half pints and de-cap bottles of beer, with a boast of being able to serve people in under 2 minutes and manage some polite chit-chat at the same time - more than most bar-folk we see on our travels.

The life size robot's movements involve the use of compressed air that is controlled and regulated through various valves and electrical switching mechanisms via a PC, as is his speech, that's operator-controlled via an integrated vocal speaker system.

Mr Asahi is currently on a UK tour, with appearances scheduled as per the list below.

Durham - 26 May
Sheffield - 29 May
Cardiff - 2 June
Bristol - 5 June
Bournemouth - 9 June
Southampton - 12 June
London, The Hurlingham - 15 June