Katie Canales/Business Insider
The baristas at Cafe X can make two drinks in under a minute and will get your order right every time.
They're also not human.
The robotic coffee bar employs assembly line-style robots to build your coffee orders for you, making Cafe X a player in San Francisco's automated eatery scene that's also gaining traction across the country.
The trend has garnered pushback for impeding on jobs that could be filled by actual humans, yet Cafe X insists it focuses on "humans working alongside technology," not replacing them, said Cafe X community manager Sam Blum. And though the baristas are robots, a living and breathing Cafe X specialist is always on-site at each store.
The venture-backed company was founded in 2015 by Henry Hu, who received funds from The Thiel Foundation, PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel's philanthropic effort, to see his endeavor through.
I visited the newest of the two Cafe X locations in San Francisco to get a glimpse of the coffee bar of the future.