GUIDO: An Urban Self-Driving Cafe

Carlo Ratti Associati, Essay, No Density, Technology and fabrication, Urban Paradigms

Artificial intelligence, Autonomy, Essay, Future cities, Innovation, Mobility, New paradigms, New urban lifestyles, Project, Research, Responsive technologies, Robotics, Technology, Urban culture

International design and innovation office CRA presents GUIDO, a concept for a driverless robotic cafe. GUIDO has been developed for Makr Shakr, the world’s leading producer of robotic bartenders, and aims to propose new on-demand ways to enjoy leisure in cities. It is made of a unit featuring two mechanical arms that can precisely prepare and serve any drink combination in seconds, mounted over a self-driving vehicle platform.

1. Dialectics of Living and Dead Labor
In “Fragment on Machines,” Marx made the case that with investment in automated technology, which he called fixed capital, capitalism is able to reduce necessary labor time and increase both surplus labor and value. Marx then speaks of the possibility of sublating surplus labor to free time, which he understood as “both idle time and time for higher activity.” This speculation, in which the type of labor corresponding to a capitalist mode of production disappears, is predicated on new technological developments.