engineering

Makr Shakr

Makr Shakr is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Makr Shakr rather than just read about it. In short: Makr Shakr (pronounced Maker Shaker) is a producer of robotic bartenders and baristas based in Turin, Italy. The robots receive orders from customers via mobile devices, and leverage automation technologies to prepare different beverages.

Key takeaways

Makr Shakr belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Makr Shakr to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Makr Shakr from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Makr Shakr (pronounced Maker Shaker) is a producer of robotic bartenders and baristas based in Turin, Italy. The robots receive orders from customers via mobile devices, and leverage automation technologies to prepare different beverages.

Research and development Development for Makr Shakr's robotic bartenders began at MIT Senseable City Lab led by professor Carlo Ratti, with the support of the Coca-Cola and Bacardi. It originated from the concept to leverage digital technologies to "explores the new dynamics of social creation and consumption". The prototype is equipped with the ability to perform motions essential to bartending like shaking, muddling and slicing. In addition, cocktail-making is "crowdsourced" through a mobile app inviting individual users to contribute their own recipes. Its movement is modelled after the choreography by New York Theatre Ballet's Marco Pelle. Makr Shakr was first introduced to the public through various international technology and design events. After a test run in April 2013 during the Milan Design Week, three mechanical arms were deployed at the Google I/O Conference in San Francisco a month later. In 2014, Makr Shakr received design awards by Core 77 and D&AD for its concept and digital interface respectively.

Commercial launch Makr Shakr was launched commercially as a start-up in 2017, with an assembly line set up in Turin, Italy. It partners with the German automative system manufacturer KUKA in producing the robotic bartenders. Operating at a rate of 60-90 seconds per drink, the brand's various models are implemented in cities such as Amsterdam, Prague, London and Las Vegas. The Bionic Bar, produced by Makr Shakr, is installed in nine cruise ships of cruise line Royal Caribbean. The company is set to debut in Changi Airport, Singapore, Bali, Olympia, Wa and Dallas in 2024. The company's flagship robot Toni featured in the exhibition "AI: More Than Human" at the Barbican, London in 2019.

Influence on restaurants and bars As the COVID-19 pandemic drastically affected the food and beverage business, Makr Shakr was credited in media as one of the robotic devices that have offered solutions to alleviate the difficult situation faced by the industry, from reducing human contact and the possibility to spread the virus, to providing relief for the shortage of manpower. In late 2019, the brand initiated the pilot of a stipend program in the US, in collaboration with SUNY Erie Community College, New York. With the sale of every robotic unit, the company offered parts of the proceeds to a selected individual whose livelihood had been affected by automation to acquire a new professional skill. The first stipend recipient was sponsored to study in the Brewery Science and Service Program.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Makr Shakr

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Makr Shakr claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Makr Shakr before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Makr Shakr ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Makr Shakr

In research: Makr Shakr appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Makr Shakr in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Makr Shakr is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bartending equipment, Italian companies established in 2017, Organisations based in Turin, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Makr Shakr outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Makr Shakr in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Makr Shakr means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Makr Shakr out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Makr Shakr in simple terms?

Why does Makr Shakr matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Makr Shakr?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Makr Shakr.