New Atlas

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Robotic bar could soon be hailed like a drink-making cab

Ben Coxworth January 15, 2019

It was six years ago that we first heard about Makr Shakr, a robotic bar that can reportedly mix one Googol (the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes) drink combinations. Now, its designers are planning on installing the tech in an autonomous vehicle that users can hail whenever they want a bevvy.

Users will be able to hail the Guido vehicle, and order their drinks, using an app

Robotics

Scribit robot could soon be drawing on your walls

Ben Coxworth April 3, 2018

A couple of years ago, design firm Carlo Ratti Associati showcased a system in which drones were used to draw images on walls. It was very clever, but perhaps not something that could become a commercial product. The company's Scribit wall-drawing robot, however, is intended to be just that.

Scribit will be the subject of an upcoming crowdfunding campaign

Architecture

Singapore skyscraper will burst at the seams with greenery

Adam Williams February 13, 2018

Italy's Carlo Ratti Associates (CRA) and Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) have collaborated on an interesting new skyscraper currently under construction in Singapore. Rising to 280 m (918 ft) the building will be jam-packed with greenery, and feature trees jutting out of its facade.

The unnamed skyscraper will rise to a height of 280 m (918 ft)

Architecture

Tomato factory to feature walls made from glass tomato sauce jars

Adam Williams December 21, 2017

Carlo Ratti Associati has taken a novel approach to designing a new factory for Italian tomato firm Mutti. It features a visitor's center with walls made from glass tomato sauce jars – tomatotecture, if you will – as well as a terrace allowing the public to watch the tomatoes being processed.

Construction is expected to begin next year, with completion slated for 2023

Drones

Swarms of graffiti drones to be unleashed on blank walls

Rich Haridy May 2, 2017

Artists and vandals have been attaching spray-paint cans to drones with varying degrees of success for several years now but what if whole swarms of drones could be controlled in a coordinated way to paint colorful designs on the many bare construction facades that fill our cities?

These app-controlled graffiti drones are designed to add color to the many bare walls across cities

Architecture

Floating plaza to make a splash in Florida

Stu Robarts October 31, 2016

Visitors to West Palm Beach's Currie Park in Florida will soon be able to stroll around a plaza that's home to a restaurant, an auditorium, decorative water pools and hydroponically-grown greenery. What makes it unique, though, is that it will be floating off the coast using submarine technology.

The Currie Park floating plaza will be mounted on a system of responsive air chambers that ...