Paulii pours beer with a perfect head

The KUKA LBR iiwa lightweight robot takes on radio presenter “Fleischi” in a wheat beer pouring contest

den 29 september 2015

Pouring a wheat beer is the ultimate challenge behind the bar. In Paulaner’s new promotional video, wheat beer tradition comes up against robotic innovation. The task: Who can pour the perfect wheat beer more quickly? To find out, radio presenter Bernhard Fleischmann and Paulii, as the KUKA LBR iiwa ightweight robot was nicknamed for the advertisement, meet up in Paulaner’s traditional beer garden. Make way for Fleischi vs. Paulii, radio presenter and wheat beer expert vs. robot and wheat beer lover.

Blindfolded and without a camera system, the contest starts under the same conditions for both contestants. The glasses are held at an angle to the bottle, the first drops run down the side of the glass. Watch here to find out who managed to pour the perfect beer. Good, better, ...

A charming demonstration of human-robot collaboration

This promotional video features a charming application demonstrating human-robot collaboration (HRC) and object-oriented programming of the robot, the core component of “Industry 4.0”. The robotic colleague already assisted the service team behind the bar at Hannover Messe 2015 by helping them to serve beer. Side by side with its human colleagues, the robot took care of all the necessary actions itself: it fetched a full bottle of beer, opened it, picked up a glass and rinsed it before pouring the wheat beer in perfect fashion. The mechanical colleague also looked after the washing up.

Sensitivity opens up the ultimate form of cooperation

How does that work? Quite simply: the LBR iiwa has sensitive joint torque sensors in all seven axes. They enable it to recognize whether the bottle is full or empty by its weight, to grasp the glass without breaking it and to open the bottle by applying just the right amount of force. And of course the lightweight robot does not pose a hazard when collaborating with humans. In other words, an ordinary colleague who naturally also meets the hygiene requirements and does not dip the bottle into the beer when pouring it. Well, then: Cheers!