Shiva Announces SciFi-style Beverage "Synthesizer"

ELYSBURG, Pa. - Feb. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- Imagine being able to go up to a vending machine, quickly navigate through the screens to select what you want, and less than a minute later have a wonderful cup of caffe mocha made with Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans and Venezuelan Criollo cacao beans.  Or, perhaps you'd prefer something a bit stronger, perhaps some 18 year old scotch whisky?  May be just your favorite cola?

Shiva Science & Technology Group's patent-pending Automated Beverage Synthesizers (ABS) will allow one to do just that.  Science-fiction writers and fans have long dreamed of machines that could make any food or beverage right there on the spot and on demand.  Shiva's ABS fulfills those dreams, at least for beverages.

By ingeniously integrating technologies from a variety of fields - analytical chemistry, microfluidics, robotics, and IT - Shiva's ABS builds the requested beverage up from scratch, component by component.  Some current beverage dispensers can provide hundreds of choices, but a Shiva ABS will be able to provide millions upon millions.  The ABS can replicate any beverage for which it has an entry in its Component Library.  The idea is to use a variety of analytical techniques to determine the properties and chemical components of existing (and future) beverages and certain beverage components.  This is how the Component Library is built.  The Component Library of each ABS can be regularly updated via the Internet as more beverages are added.  Imagine a Component Library that houses the information for millions of beverages - wines, spirits, soft drinks, fruit juices, etc..

Once the customer decides on what they want, the ABS's computer takes over and calculates what it needs to do in order to prepare the drink.  Literally thousands of cartridges hold most of the individual chemical components needed to replicate the beverage.  The cup, or glass, shuttles back and forth below the cartridges receiving the necessary quantities of components and is whisked over to processing stations that evaporate solvents, sonicate, heat, cool, froth, carbonate, or perform any other needed operation on the drink as it is created.  The ABS is a tour d' force application of technology.

Whether one wants a cola or a cocktail, the ABS can provide.  Like that $2500 bottle of Cognac, but don't like the price?  The ABS can replicate it for only a few dollars - and you won't be able to taste the difference.  Would love an enormous wine cellar, but don't have a million dollars to spend on one?  No problem, the ABS can make a larger variety of wines than are held by any wine cellar and at a very small fraction of the price.  So much for beverage snobbery.

Another feature that the ABS allows for is an unprecidented degree of customization.  Let's say you have become diabetic, but a sugar-free version of your favorite drink is not available.  The ABS allows you to make a sugar-free version and store it under your account so you can simply request it in the future, perhaps at any commercial ABS in the world.  Or, perhaps an alcohol-free version of your favorite cocktail?

So, just what are the target markets for such a machine?  Shiva envisions that bars, clubs, and restaurants will be the main customers for a fully functional ABS.  The ABS means that they will no longer have to carry large inventories of various beverages to serve their clientele.  Also, having an ABS means a the establishment could provide its customers with a much, much larger selection.  An added benefit for such businesses is a lesser need for experienced bartenders/mixologists.  Customers could interact with the ABS using one of the those tabletop tablets that are becoming so popular and all that would be required is for a server to deliver the drink from the ABS to to customer.  To take things all the way automated, a computer could be used as the server.

For non-business customers, Shiva sees less expensive versions with more specific functionalities in mind.  For example, a coffee lovers version which would only need the cartridges and functionalities needed to produce coffee-based beverages.  Or, a wine lovers version which would eliminate the need for a wine cellar.  Shiva also envisions the refilling/servicing of the ABS to be done on a subscription service-based model, where the ABS communicates with the service provider who then sends out someone to refill those component cartridges that are getting low and perform any service needed to the ABS.

The ABS represents yet another example of science-fiction becoming reality.  Shiva anticipates that consumers could start seeing the ABS out there within the next 2 to 3 years. Welcome to the 21st century.