Robots and beer: Hop Robotics is reimagining event drink service
When he founded Hop Robotics, Grayson Dawson’s goal was to combine his two great passions under a single project.To get more news about
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“I have a background in industrial automation, mostly the automotive industry and high volume manufacturing,” Dawson said. “I got kind of tired with the corporate grind and the lack of innovation in some instances, and so I started a company that would combine two of my big passions: good craft beer, and robotics.”
It’s not an obvious combination, he admits, but Dawson is part of the growing sector of food service robotics, also known as food service automation, which aims to take the efficiencies of a factory environment and implement them in the consumer-facing sector.Greenville-based Hop Robotics, which Dawson founded in 2019, is tackling beverage service. His proof-of-concept robot, which he named “Walter,” uses mobile robotic systems to increase sales, utilize labor effectively and decrease wait times for large venues, stadiums, events and restaurant operators.
Consider the giant robotic arms that weave and bend with precision over the factory lines at BMW or Michelin. Now imagine those same type of robotic arms, albeit smaller, serving beer in a stadium. Customers can simply walk up, tap on a screen to choose their beer, and each pour is served within 25 seconds. Automation allows for a perfect pour each time, ensuring keg yield is increased and less beer is wasted from bad pours, which has the potential to save considerable sums of cash over the course of even just one large sporting event or concert.
Dawson said he chose large events as a starting point to better understand how customers and businesses adopt the new processes.
“We’re in a point where a lot of companies are experimenting with robotics and automation, trying to understand if this or that space is right for it,” Dawson said. “Already you’ve got burger flipping robots, smoothie and coffee robots, and I’d say all sides are trying to figure out what the value is and how patrons are reacting to it.”Hop Robotics, which has received mentorship and support under NEXT, is now in the process of figuring out exactly how to scale its systems. Already it has been utilized at dozens of events, from concerts to sporting events to festivals. Dawson said the goal is not to take away jobs — a human operator is still required to ensure functions operate properly — but rather increase efficiency for the end user.
