It seems like these days, you can find robots anywhere: Talking to your children, pissing off Supervisor Normal Yee as they attempt to deliver your dinner, and acting as a butler at your fancy-pants apartment building. But before all those carpetbagging bots hit the scene, there was DNA Lounge's Cocktail Robots Grand Challenge.
The grandaddy of robot competitions (the great-grandaddy is obviously Robot Wars, preferably the OG British version), DNA held its first annual robot cocktail bash long before that one robot knocked that kid over at the Stanford mall. DNA's robot competitors, each made by local creators who pay a $45 registration fee to participate in the event, seek to knock us all over with their so-called "powers of automated intoxication."
This year's competition will be held at the DNA on Sunday, July 16 from 5 p.m. to midnight. Robots will be judged on the following:
• Style and Grace: How clever, how dapper is that robot of yours?• Efficiency of Intoxication: Are the drinks it makes good?
• Full-Assery: The opposite of halfassery. Does the infernal device actually work, or do you have to stand there tweaking it constantly?
• This Will End Badly: Extra consideration will be given for terrible ideas and Mad Science.
The winner will take home $1000 cash, second place gets $700, and third gets $300. "In addition," the DNA writes, "we'll give your team $1 for each drink token that your robot collects from our human customers, whether you win or not."
Think your bot buddy has what it takes to bring home the crown? If so, sign up here. Prefer to consume the fruits of the droids' labors? Grab your tickets here, they're $16 in advance or $20 the day of the event, which will cover admission and two robot drink chips.
Related: DNA Lounge Facing Imminent Closure As Owner Asks For More Patrons