Cabo, Korea's First Robot Bartender Debuts at Bar in Seoul

Cabo, new bartender who recently started working at classic bar 'Coffee bar K' in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul, single malt whiskey enthusiast's favorite place.

Cabo with a round face and big eye which resemble 'space boy atom' from Sci-Fi Japanimation introduced himself as a 'Little Ice Carving Robot'.
Carbo is the first robot bartender officially hired in this bar. It is a formidable newcomer who looks cute but has ransom more than 200 million won.

Cabo's main task is ice carving which makes square ice into a round ball shape.
The name Cabo made by fellow bartenders also means 'ice-carving robot'.
The rounded ice is smaller than the square ice, reaching the liquor, slowly melting and keeping the flavor of the whiskey for a long time. The ice used to make ice balls is "transparent ice", which is completely free of air and slowly frozen at high temperatures, much harder than the "white ice" made in a common refrigerator or ice maker.

"It is a hard skill to have this kind of ice in your hand and cut it in a circle, which is difficult for even skilled bartender to do it several times a day," said Bar manager.


CEO of Robocare, Kim Sung-gang who made Cabo said, "We applied precise robot technology that is used in the semiconductor process line. We will be able to do other tasks such as cooking if we change various tools according to the situation."

Choi Soon Ryung, who runs bar talked with Shin Kyung Ho who is director at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) last year and came out saying "I want to make robot to work at bar". Shin who considered this an interesting idea has linked RoboCare, a company founded by KIST with Choi.

About eight months after commissioning and development, Carbo, the first customized robot made by the company, was delivered to the Choi, bar owner earlier this month.