In a downtown Seattle cafe, Artly’s Barista Bot carefully pours steamed milk into a cup, finishing with a classic tulip design. Its precise yet delicate movement reflects years of engineering, artificial intelligence, and a deep respect for craft. Founded by AI and robotics veterans Yushan Chen and Meng Wang, Artly was built on the idea that automation should amplify the art of coffee making rather than rendering it obsolete. Thus, Artly’s Barista Bot redefines how coffee is made and served while preserving the flavor and experience people love.
That experience begins with consistency. By using motion-capture data from world-class baristas, Barista Bot replicates the techniques of seasoned professionals in every step of drink preparation from brewing to pouring. The result is a consistently high-quality cup every time with minimal variance.
Driving this precision is Artly’s proprietary Vision-Language-Action (VLA) platform. It allows the robot to learn and replicate human motion data and adapt to its dynamic surroundings. For example, if a cup is misaligned, the Barista Bot will change and correct its posture accordingly so it doesn’t stall. Furthermore, the VLA platform has flexible programmability, capable of translating natural-language task descriptions into action sequences. This allows new recipes and drink menu items to be deployed quickly.
While the Barista Bot runs autonomously, it’s far from impersonal. Customers can place their orders through a touchscreen or mobile app, selecting options like milk type, sweetness, and more.
What truly sets Artly apart, though, is its Artly General Intelligence (AGI) platform. AGI is a full-stack software system built to enable faster learning of complex tasks across different domains. It comprises four major technology layers, ranging from data collection to model deployment and management.
Through AGI, Artly extends robotic capabilities beyond coffee preparation. The Barista Bot can grasp small or slippery items, cut fruit, stir drinks, and even garnish cocktails with precision. These physical skills are no longer add-ons—they’re becoming core features embedded in the robot’s operational vocabulary.
Customers can already see these capabilities in action at various Artly locations, including Hill 7 in Seattle and the MUJI store in Toronto, serving anything from a specialty pour-over to a craft latte.
Looking towards the future, Artly hopes to develop its robotics platform for kitchens, hotels, and healthcare settings to handle repetitive tasks. With its expanding skill set, the Barista Bot is just the beginning of Artly’s broader goal: to deploy robots that are meaningfully helpful in fast-paced environments.