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I think this article goes along with our "Smartbar" discussion. The Smartbar may actually be useful in certain locations where a full time bartender may be too costly. There are obvious legal regulatory issues to contend, but at least some room for growth for the Smartbar. For other products like cupcakes, donuts or small bites, established restaurants are now tapping into the 24 hour convenience business model through the use of vending machines. I think this is a great idea for customers who want more variety than what we have been seeing at vending machines the past 10 or 20 years, which is potato chips, candy bars and nuts. For the company, this would give them more exposure and increased revenue stream at locations such as airports, hotels and hospitals where there is always people around. Some companies like Apple or Sony have been doing this for years. I can understand that they are selling a non-perishable good and the customer is ultimately only paying for the end product only. Restaurants are often involved with proving a level hospitality service as part of the product they sell and automation was not really in their best interest. But now with the explosion of Ipods and automated POS taking over the servers job, we may see more of these stand alone units serving customers. Overall, I think this is a business concept/technology that we are behind in. The article mentions that Japan has been using this concept to sell fresh food items and other items such clothing as well. From a business standpoint, given the increasing rise of competition, rent/property prices and variety of choices consumers have, these are some major recent factors which will propel this concept more.

This article explains the newest event technology in 2017. Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are some forms of technology that are showing up at events around the country. Some robotics popping up are Make Shakr, a robotic bartender that makes an limitless menu of cocktails and Sprinkles' Cupcake ATM that sells cupcakes 24/7. Artificial Intelligence is being used in voice recognition programs and unmanned vehicles. Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa are all voice activated assistants that make AI easier to use in events. Gone are the days were virtual reality (VR) uses heavy headsets VR 2.0 allows costumers to walk around activations. Merrell, a footwear company had an industry-first hiking experience that had customers move around a virtual commercial.