COFE+ Robotic Coffee Kiosk Outpaces Human Baristas in Shanghai Speed Test

Shanghai-based Hi-Dolphin Robot Technology said its seventh-generation COFE+ robotic café outperformed professional baristas in a speed competition at the 2026 Hongqiao International Coffee Culture Festival in China, according to a press release. The automated system prepared three specialty Americanos in 2 minutes, 43 seconds, against 3 minutes, 35 seconds for the human competitors. The robot averaged 54 seconds per cup while the baristas averaged 72 seconds. The company said the machine also held tighter consistency in beverage weight, reporting a deviation of 0.8 grams compared with 2.1 grams for the human participants. The seventh-generation unit occupies about 25 square feet and can prepare more than 300 beverage combinations across eight categories, including coffee, milk tea, matcha and chocolate drinks. It uses artificial intelligence to monitor more than 300 brewing parameters, including extraction pressure and water temperature, and can serve hot and cold drinks with customized latte art. Hi-Dolphin said the equipment has a projected service life of 10 years or 500,000 cups. It estimates the automated café model can cut operating overhead by more than 90% versus a conventional coffee shop, with beverage production costs of 30 to 70 cents per cup. One operator can remotely manage 10 machines, each taking under 15 minutes to restock, and the company reports deployments in nearly 70 countries and more than 200 cities. Source: Kiosk Marketplace — https://www.kioskmarketplace.com/news/cofe-robotic-coffee-kiosk-outperforms-human-baristas-in-speed-competition/