{"id":215724,"date":"2026-07-15T11:18:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T15:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/uncategorized\/the-robot-coffee-test\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:44:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:44:34","slug":"the-robot-coffee-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/","title":{"rendered":"The robot coffee test"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see last week\u2019s Blog<\/a>), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical <\/em>use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks<\/strong>. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may debate whether the coffee test constitutes a \u2018genuinely useful\u2019 task, but the question remains pertinent. Wind the clock back to 2007. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak predicted<\/a> that robots would \u201cnever\u201d be able to make a cup of coffee<\/strong>. Give a human an unfamiliar machine and they should be able to operate it without a problem. For a robot, this could be a whole different proposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convergence of the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence \u2013 historically distinct disciplines \u2013 has been driving the real robot revolution. As we discussed in detail last year<\/a>, artificial intelligence has the potential to be transformational in terms of the way in which robots learn to move and navigate environments<\/strong>. Ask experts<\/a> when robots might pass the coffee test* and the median prediction is 2034.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost eight years from now does not sound very impressive. However, it\u2019s still a marked improvement<\/em> on Wozniak\u2019s world view. Several important lessons can be learned from this discussion. First, today\u2019s humanoids are the most expensive and least capable they will ever be<\/strong>. Next, make clear what robots can do at the outset to minimise the scope for potential disappointment. Do not anthropomorphise robots or exaggerate their capabilities. Finally, slopes of enlightenment are almost always<\/a> preceded by troughs of disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your author will continue to ponder these matters in one of the homes of coffee culture<\/a> over the next couple of weeks. Since the Ottoman empire in the 16th century, Turkish coffee has established a central place in social rituals. Habits such as these help make us human. Happy holidays. The Future Trends Blog will return towards the end of the month<\/strong>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally Posted July 14, 2026 – The robot coffee test<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*The specific test \u201crequires a robot to make a cup of coffee in three different unstructured, unfamiliar environments of equivalent complexity to an ordinary home, without making any mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may change. The views expressed are solely those of the author at the time of writing. This article should not be relied upon for investment decisions. Past performance does not predict future returns, the value of investments and income from them can fall as well as rise.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":597,"featured_media":215725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[146,147,8,12,148,7],"tags":[],"contributors-categories":[277],"class_list":["post-215724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-macro","category-north-america","category-region","category-securities","category-text-articles","category-traders-insight","contributors-categories-heptagon-capital"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe robot coffee test | Traders' Insight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215724\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The robot coffee test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IBKR Campus EU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alexander Gunz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alexander Gunz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t \"@graph\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#article\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"name\": \"Alexander Gunz\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9\"\n\t },\n\t \"headline\": \"The robot coffee test\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00\",\n\t \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t \"wordCount\": 472,\n\t \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg\",\n\t \"articleSection\": [\n\t \"Macro\",\n\t \"North America\",\n\t \"Region\",\n\t \"Securities\",\n\t \"Text Articles\",\n\t \"Traders' Insight\"\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#respond\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"The robot coffee test - IBKR Campus EU\",\n\t \"isPartOf\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/#website\"\n\t },\n\t \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"image\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t },\n\t \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg\",\n\t \"datePublished\": \"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00\",\n\t \"dateModified\": \"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00\",\n\t \"author\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9\"\n\t },\n\t \"description\": \"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.\",\n\t \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t },\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t \"target\": [\n\t \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/\"\n\t ]\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg\",\n\t \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg\",\n\t \"width\": 1000,\n\t \"height\": 667\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/traders-insight\\\/securities\\\/macro\\\/the-robot-coffee-test\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t \"itemListElement\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 1,\n\t \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t \"position\": 2,\n\t \"name\": \"The robot coffee test\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/#website\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/\",\n\t \"name\": \"IBKR Campus EU\",\n\t \"description\": \"\",\n\t \"potentialAction\": [\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t \"target\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t },\n\t \"query-input\": {\n\t \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t }\n\t }\n\t ],\n\t \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t },\n\t {\n\t \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.eu\\\/campus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9\",\n\t \"name\": \"Alexander Gunz\",\n\t \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\\\/campus\\\/author\\\/alexander-gunz\\\/\"\n\t }\n\t ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The robot coffee test | Traders' Insight","description":"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215724\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The robot coffee test","og_description":"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/","og_site_name":"IBKR Campus EU","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alexander Gunz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alexander Gunz","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/"},"author":{"name":"Alexander Gunz","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/#\/schema\/person\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9"},"headline":"The robot coffee test","datePublished":"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/"},"wordCount":472,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","articleSection":["Macro","North America","Region","Securities","Text Articles","Traders' Insight"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/","url":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/","name":"The robot coffee test - IBKR Campus EU","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-15T15:18:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T10:44:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/#\/schema\/person\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9"},"description":"If AI-enabled shopping agents aren\u2019t yet cutting the mustard (see ), then what about robots? Perhaps the best practical use-cases for AI may not lie in software doing shopping on our behalf, but in hardware performing genuinely useful tasks. Let\u2019s consider, then, whether a robot could make a cup of coffee.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","width":1000,"height":667},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/traders-insight\/securities\/macro\/the-robot-coffee-test\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The robot coffee test"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/","name":"IBKR Campus EU","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/#\/schema\/person\/72521bc0f55176f001b1080f6e98bcd9","name":"Alexander Gunz","url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/author\/alexander-gunz\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.eu\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/07\/robot-coffee-featured-img.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215726,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215724\/revisions\/215726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215724"},{"taxonomy":"contributors-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.eu\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributors-categories?post=215724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}