Barista drones?

Coffee is generally considered the lifeblood of most offices. Many of us can’t focus without a morning brew, only after which things start to pull into focus and the day ahead can begin. But coffee drinking culture relies on a steady stream of the stuff which is normally supplied by reliable and steadfast colleagues who devotedly continue to carry out regular brew rounds.

But what if brew rounds were a thing of the past? Well, they might well be with the news that technology company IBM has patented coffee-delivering drones.

The patent explains how IBM believes the technology could revolutionise offices and work spaces: “The drone proactively and automatically delivers coffee to one or more recipients, for example who are in a large office complex.”

It goes on to describe how particular metrics could be measured to deliver hot coffee to those who need it the most, for example someone who has had a bad night’s sleep and might be showing signs of tiring: “The assessment and estimate is based on any of; sleep quality (e.g. assessed by known methods), electronic calendar (e.g. time of day, schedule of meetings […]), biometrics, blood pressure, pupil dilation, facial expression analysis, the time an individual woke up in morning and gesture analysis.”

Accompanying drawings attached to the patent suggest how IBM thinks coffee could be delivered by drone including an instance where someone holds their hand up to be directly dropped coffee in a holder via string. Another similar diagram shows a comparable picture, but this time with the coffee mug delivered in a plastic bag, presumably to avoid drink spillages.

Whilst IBM has not announced when these coffee-delivery drones might actually be created and used within office environments this is definitely something we will be keeping a close eye on!