The Bay Area is known for its cutting-edge technologies, and robots are a big part of that. This is one of the only places in the world where you’ll encounter robots fairly casually in day-to-day life.
Here are three examples of the craziest robots you can see in everyday action here in the Bay Area:
#3: Rude Robot Assistants at UCSF
If you find yourself at the UCSF hospital in Mission Bay in downtown San Francisco, you might notice that some basic tasks around the hospital are performed by big roving robots.
These beeping, surprisingly stern electronic creatures scurry around the hospital, delivering medicine, meal trays, equipment, and more. They save humans from the hassle of carrying basic items across the massive hospital and travel thousands of miles every month.
Just don’t get in the way of one of them! We stepped in between one and the elevator, and it scolded us in a realistic and very exasperated-sounding voice. It was kind of rude!
You can read our full story about these very cool robots here.
#2: Robot Barista at SFO
San Francisco International Airport has lots of exciting features, including a sunbathing deck with a sculpture garden overlooking the runway. It also boasts some shockingly good food!
But one of the coolest things you’ll find at SFO is Café X, a fully robot-powered barista. Anytime, day or night, you can visit Café X, order from a tablet, and watch as a robot arm prepares your drink.
It does everything a human barista would do—grabbing a cup, placing it under a fancy espresso machine, brewing your drink, mixing it up perfectly, and even giving you a cheerful wave! The kicker? The coffee from Café X is actually good.
On top of that, the lines are often shorter than at the human-run café down the hall. Check out our review and a video of Café X’s robot in action.
#1: The Bagel-Making Robot at Boichik Bagels in Berkeley
When Emily Winston set out to recreate the New York bagels of her childhood here in the Bay Area, she wasn’t aiming for mediocrity. Instead, she ended up being declared by The New York Times as having the best bagels in the country.
To scale up operations and bring her amazing bagels to more places around the Bay Area and beyond, Winston launched an 18,000-square-foot bagel-making factory in Berkeley.
The centerpiece of the factory is a robotic assembly line for making bagels, which includes a robot arm that stacks trays of bagels ready to be baked.
You can drop by Boichik’s location on 6th Street, grab a bagel, and watch the robot in action through giant, plate glass windows. It’s a great rainy day activity with kids. Read more here.
Clearly, the robot dream is alive and well here in the Bay Area. And we didn’t even mention the Waymos!
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