Robo Wino Can Distinguish Plonk from Premium Vino

Want your wine served without the attitude tossed your way by so many restaurant sommeliers? How about a wine-friendly robot instead?

NEC and Japan's Mie University developed this unnamed and diminutive (just over a foot tall) fellow. While it's not actually designed to serve wine, it is prepared to taste it. Sensors in its robo-hands measure the absorption of infrared light, which the robot then analyzes to determine the variety of grapes used to make the wine, as each grape variety absorbs light differently. In other words, the little robot can distinguish cabernet from merlot (or a blend of both) just by dipping his finger into it.

His talents also extend to examining the amount of sugar in the glass to determine how sweet the wine will be. Oddly, he can also identify varieties of cheese and tell how ripe an apple is just by touching it. 

Right now, the robot sommelier appears to be nothing more than a lab project, but wine-oriented hardware like this is definitely in demand in the marketplace. For example, the $50,000 Wine Scanner, a commercially available product, can analyze bottles of wine to determine whether they've gone bad... without opening the bottle.

Just imagine how much fun he would bring to those boring old wine tasting parties. 

LINK: Japan serves up first robot sommelier