TECHNOLOGY – Presenting the coffee machine that reads minds

LAFAYETTE, IN – Lafayette, Indiana based JL Hufford Coffee and Tea announced that it has begun provisional patent exploration into coffee machines that learn and react to their users.
James Pappas, JL Hufford Coffee and Tea’s Product Manager, believes that the technology enabling an appliance to learn and react to its user’s preferences, so-called “ubiquitous computing”, is already both available and affordable. “The software for a basic [artificial intelligence learning algorithm is currently available and quite inexpensive”, says Pappas, whose store specializes in “super-automatic” coffee machines.
What will it be like to use such a machine? “For the first several weeks, the machine learns the drinking patterns of its users. Then it adapts. Every Sunday afternoon, it’s French vanilla cappuccino time. Each weekday morning, it starts brewing a triple espresso at 7:00 am. After dinner, it does up a creamy decaf café au lait.” How does it know where you are or at exactly which moment you’ll be ready for your drink? Pappas is tight-lipped about this aspect, the crux of his invention, but he hints at GPS tracking or existing RFID technology. What is certain is that some machines, like the Jura-Capresso Impressa F9 already have ports which could be connected to a computer. Once the computer is networked, the possibilities are many.
What’s more, Pappas envisions yet another feature for your cellular phone. “You have your coffee maker on speed dial,” explains Pappas, “and you just give it a call when you are a few minutes from home, and it already knows what to brew. If you want to override preset drink preferences, you can dial in and enter an override drink code. Existing cellular technology opens up a slew of possibilities.”
Although this is all still in the theoretical phase, existing super-automatic coffee centers already curtail performance based on their user’s preferences. “We already carry machines that have personalized messages for their users, remember different user’s preferences, and can be connected to the Internet.” explains Pappas.