Robot barista leaves train commuters curious: coffee from $3
Robot baristas are appearing at Sydney and Melbourne transport hubs, serving flat whites and cappuccinos for $3 to $5.50. COFE+ runs Robot Café units at Central station, while Robotica Group operates three permanent Caffè Robotica sites in Victoria, open 24/7.
A robot barista leaves train commuters doing a double take at some of Australia's busiest transport hubs, where fully automated coffee kiosks are now serving morning rush-hour crowds in Sydney and Melbourne.
Robotic arms make the drinks. Prices run from $3 to $5.50, which matches some of the cheapest barista coffees in the two cities.
Where the robots are working
At Sydney's Central station, commuters meet COFE+'s Robot Café, built by Shanghai Hi-Dolphin Robot Technology, an artificial intelligence and robotics company founded in 2018. The units also sit in the Devonshire Street Tunnel and in the underground links from Town Hall to the Queen Victoria Building and from Wynyard through to Barangaroo.
COFE+ has also moved into Darling Harbour, the ICC precinct, and the University of Sydney and UNSW campuses.
In Melbourne, the machine is more likely to be Caffè Robotica, made by Australian technology and automation company Robotica Group. It has three permanent sites in Victoria: Burwood One Shopping Centre, Chadstone Shopping Centre and Russell Street in the Melbourne CBD. All three run 24/7, alongside regular pop-up locations.
What is on the menu
These are not the weak filter brews of old vending machines. The kiosks stock quality beans and several milk options, so a skim cap or flat white comes out as it would from a human barista.
Caffè Robotica promises precise orders every time, across more than 55 drinks. They include hot and iced coffees, hot chocolate and matcha.
COFE+ says its robots are built to be "efficient and precise" and to cut waste. Its website says a robot can measure the exact amount of coffee for each cup and grind beans to a consistent size.
The people behind the machine
Charles Wang of Robotica Group said the robot is "the most visible part of our service". Behind it, he said, is an operating model of daily cleaning and replenishment, plus ongoing servicing and maintenance.
The aim, Wang said, is to keep drink quality consistent and operation dependable. Business is booming so far, according to the report on the rollout, as commuter corridors become testing grounds for the "faceless café" trend.
Not every robot food idea survived
Automation has had mixed results in Australian food. In 2022, Pizzabot at the North Sydney Aldi Corner Store baked pizzas from raw dough in two minutes. The trial ended later that year because of the cost of maintaining its internal stone decks and restocking short-shelf-life ingredients.
Desserts have fared better. An automated Cake Mail glass kiosk at Westfield Chatswood has drawn crowds since mid-2024, using a motorised elevator lift rather than a robotic arm. Commercial bakeries restock the refrigerated machine daily.
