Pub landlords on notice as 'Internet of Beer' firm not only pulls pints, but can also clean the lines
- Reference: 1624445104
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/23/the_internet_of_beer_grows/
- Source link:
Founded in 2015 by Can Algul and Necdet Alpmen, Pubbino combined the pair's primary passions: draft beer and technology. "We aim to provide industry stakeholders – from brewers and pub owners to bartenders and consumers – with the smartest solutions," claimed Algul, chief exec.
The business claims to have inserted AI in some unusual places, and the latest design is aimed at putting its nascent Skynet-alike to work cleaning beer lines.
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Dubbed "Smart Clean", the device is the third entry in Pubbino's "Internet of Beer" range after Smart Tap and the Smart Hub. According to the company, its AquaVibra Technology – patented, and despite its name not something you'd find on the shelves of Ann Summers – faffs around with the cleaning solution in such a way as to increase the pressure fourfold and offer a claimed 80 per cent more effective cleaning routine.
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Pubbino said the artificially intelligent aspect of the system comes in the form of a "tailor made and fully automatised draft beer line cleaning process" for each of the four lines the system can clean at once – taking into account usage metrics, beer type, cooling system, and length of line.
[4]OK, so we don't have a flying car yet, but this is possibly even better: The Internet of Beer
[5]Home office setup with built-in boiling water tap for tea and coffee without getting up is a monument to deskcess
[6]Partial beer print horror as Microsoft's printer bug fix, er, doesn't
[7]Scotch eggs ascend to the 'substantial meal' pantheon as means to pop to pub for a pint during pernicious pandemic
Put smarts into something, and someone's going to want to track its metrics. Unsurprisingly, Smart Clean ties into Pubbino's Smart Hub platform, offering trackable data on cleaning from a smartphone or web browser. The company also claimed its system uses around three-quarters the water and 10 per cent less detergent than a traditional cleaning routine.
Smart Tap is another compatible "AI-powered" gadget that replaces the art of the pint pull with a roboticised system offering adjustable flow rate and customisable head generation. The company claimed this led to a drop of 20 per cent in beer wasted compared to inefficient meatbag bartenders.
Master brewer and editor of the Brewery History Society newsletter Roger Putman told The Register the program changes Smart Clean makes depend on volume throughput and beer type, "both of which a mere human could work out for himself."
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"An automated system does address the cost of having a technician go round, which is common in Ireland, and the risks that trained managers in UK pub chains do not actually follow the rules for manual operations.
"They will always use excess flushing, whereas I think Smart Clean will be checking pH of the effluent. It says that the detergent is pharmaceutically dosed which of course cuts out human error or adding a bit extra just to be sure.
"It says it does four lines at a time," Putman added of the scalability of the system. "A sports bar and restaurant over here in Douglas Isle of Man has 35 taps, and that is typical in the British Isles - but obviously not in Istanbul."
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Pubbino isn't the only company looking to bring beer online, mind you. Earlier this year Smarter Technologies announced its [10]connected keg tracking system , using a 10-year device linked to the Orion Data Network, as a response to kegs both full and empty having an irritating tendency to grow legs and wander away from publicans' premises.
Pubbino has not disclosed pricing for any of its boozy gadgetry. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YNNanj3jrpBObp1s-z7jJgAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/internet_of_beer/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/16/ultimate_working_from_home_desk/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/18/windows_printer_still_broken/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/01/scotch_egg_substantial_meal/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YNNanj3jrpBObp1s-z7jJgAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/edgeiot&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YNNanj3jrpBObp1s-z7jJgAAAFA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/internet_of_beer/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
No surprise there...
Marketing. Lol.
But what is the actual definition of AI?
Seriously, at what point does a bunch of instructions - or an algorithm in modern parlance - become artificial intelligence?
Re: No surprise there...
I think it has to be sentient to be fully AI.
Re: No surprise there...
When it sends its beer back because it tastes shite?
Re: No surprise there...
"
Seriously, at what point does a bunch of instructions - or an algorithm in modern parlance - become artificial intelligence?
"
I'd say that is when it can create its own complex algorithms to achieve a desired result, based upon logical conclusions drawn from previous outcomes and patterns identified in its input data.
Re: No surprise there...
So knowing when to put a northern head on a pint of ale then.....
Re: No surprise there...
When it contains an if statement or while loop ...
Re: No surprise there...
But what is the actual definition of AI?
To my mind the first criteria that's almost never met is that the system must accept feedback from the process and alter future calculations based on that feedback. The old "guess the animal" program that you could access at the Science Museum back when computers were still mysterious machines could do this!
The system being discussed here is not AI, it's just based on an algorithm.
I have known a few pubs that would benefit from this though! At one local I used to use regularly you always knew the landlord was on holiday as the beer improved - the first thing his stand-in, who happened to be his son, would do would be to clean the pipes thoroughly.
More to the point, will they sell to any blockchains of pubs?
There is something to be said for dirty lines
I frequented a pub when I was 17 - as I could get served - and the beer was shite. It tasted horrible, but it was cheap, and as I said you could get served without ID or being 18.
The thing is though, I couldn't drink that crap. So one day I'm at the bar and I can't face another pint of dirty Carling, so I look at the bottles and I see the blue star of Newcastle Brown Ale. It was about 10p more than the Carling, and I thought why not. I'll have it.
15 years later, I often think back to that pub and what I've learned about beer. Newcastle Brown is a lovely drink, but I'd have never been introduced to it if the lines of the pub had been cleaned.
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
But the hangovers from NBA though!
My head the next day -->
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
You mentioned beer... so, what's that Carling stuff you talk about?
Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of great beer (and ale) to be had in many countries, it's just that Carling to me is like... Bud, Cors, Heineken, Stella, Carlsberg, Hansa (the Norwegian stuff), Molson and probably a ton of others. They just don't taste like proper beer, they are bland while being extremely unpleasantly tasting at the same time (especially the aftertaste). So... nah, I'll skip that. I'd rather have a glass of water. Or a nice coffee (though from experience I know that places that serve the above also often have crap coffee).
And Newky Brown tastes really weird, but maybe that's an acquired taste...
Re: And Newky Brown tastes really weird, but maybe that's an acquired taste...
In my "Youf" it was Courage Tavern Keg, Grotneys Red Barrel or Newky Broon. I chose the latter. It might have been an acquired taste but at least it had some taste when compared to the opposition.
These days, I prefer a nice pint of Harveys Best (Lewes) or when I'm close to the brewery, Wadworths 6X or Surrey Nirvana (Hogs Back Brewery).
Re: And Newky Brown tastes really weird, but maybe that's an acquired taste...
Or the worst of the lot .. Whitbread Trophy
Re: And Newky Brown tastes really weird, but maybe that's an acquired taste...
I remember Grotneys Red Barrel was becoming weaker and weaker over the years until it was pointed out that if it went any lower in alcohol it'd be allowed to be sold in sweet shops. At the time any drink with less than 2% alcohol was considered to be non alcoholic. You could buy a can of Shandy in a sweet shop that was just under 2%. After the bad publicity Watneys dropped Red Barrel, and replaced it with Watneys Red.
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
Yeah, proper bitter (or mild) beer is really totally different to lager. They are different drinks. I'm not saying that all lager is like pish, because it isn't. In the right time and place it can be quite refreshing, as can a lovely cold pint of cider on a hot day.
But lager is not for drinking slowly and savouring, as a good pint of Teifi is.
(Note to El Reg: Can we have a proper bitter beer in a straight glass icon please?)
you don't want your beer in a vase?
>>proper bitter beer in a straight glass icon please?
When these bendy jars appeared and became more popular than the handled tankards (with the bar staff, if not the customers), I may have been thrown out of a pub in Lymington for asking for "A vase of Flowers"
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
Part of your experience of some of the listed lagers could be if it is based on the diluted British versions. I think both Carlsberg and Heineken are about 4.5% abv in original versions. My local Super Bock is at 5, and consequently available in smaller bottles so you can have one with lunch and still drive
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
I don't consider Newcastle Brown a good drink but I drank it as a student for the same reason as you - it was something the bar staff couldn't screw up.
On a slightly more important note, dirty lines are the single biggest contributor to crap beer quality in pubs. If an automated line cleaning system means more lines get cleaned more often then the can call it anything they want. Even better would be a line monitoring system that would refuse to serve beer that was warm or off.
Me : I'd like a pint of bitter please.
HAL : I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
I've traveled a bit, and I can handle a warm beer is the custom in some place, but one that turned.... yak!
Re: There is something to be said for dirty lines
Newcastle Brown, I'm tellin' ya, it can sure smack you down! I love a couple of NBAs Any beer that makes it into a rock song can't be bad!
draft beer line cleaning process
When's the final version being released?
Re: draft beer line cleaning process
It's a problem. After 8 rounds and comments the committee tends to slur a little and forget what they were doing - and for some reason acquire a traffic cone
Re: draft beer line cleaning process
Not sure, the RFC was lost after an incident involving IPOAC.
I looked, there's no beer related RFC's...
"A sports bar and restaurant over here in Douglas Isle of Man has 35 taps, and that is typical in the British Isles - but obviously not in Istanbul."
Clearly a man who has never been to Istanbul then. The bars I frequent there tend to be much larger than the typical equivalent in the UK or Isle of Man. Not surprising when you consider the sheer size and population of Istanbul itself.
Or perhaps he's assuming Turks don't drink much, based on their being a predominantly Muslim population. If so, he'd be wrong there too - despite the Islamist ideology of Erdoğan, only ultra-conservative places like Konya clamp down on public drinking.
Ummm...
"The business claims to have inserted AI in some unusual places..."
Perhaps they should shove some up their arse so it can try to find their failing brains to replace the lack of any intelligence on their part? Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it, so smack these wankers upside the noggin with a bungplug & let real Publicans serve their libations however they damn well please.
*Sets out a keg, thunks the tap home, & leaves it on the bar for All You Can Drink hou- listens to the empty slurping sounds as the keg runs dry, snorts, & goes back for another one*
Pubbino said the artificially intelligent aspect of the system comes in the form of a "tailor made and fully automatised draft beer line cleaning process" for each of the four lines the system can clean at once – taking into account usage metrics, beer type, cooling system, and length of line.
So, as with pretty much anything technology-related these days it's not artificial intelligence, it's just got an algorithm that takes some parameters.