[Tyler]

Justine: The Italian Coffee-Making Robot
     

An ANSA.it
article describes Justine, a robot developed by the DEXMART team of EU researchers at Naples
University. Justine's arms and hands are precise enough to
duplicate some of the movements of human hands. In particular, Justine
can make instant coffee. This may not sound like much but researcher
Bruno Siciliano explains, "'We want to develop a system of two-handed
manipulation, equipped with sensors that make the robot conscious of its
surroundings and the people in its working space." Making coffee is
just the beginning for the DEXMART team. They hope their research will
lead to robots that can more easily manipulate objects in common human
environments like the home. Their approach is have the robot abstract
its action using symbolic representation
of goals. Check YouTube for some video of Justine in
action.
   

http://robots.net/article/2472.html