In Japan, tea ceremony (cha-dou) is revered as a way to a gain deeper insights into life and philosophy. Traditional Japanese tea ceremony practitioners put in long hours to master the intricacies and details of pouring tea. The road to becoming a tea master is crucial as it develops the practitioner’s mental state as well as physical technique.
However if you don’t have time to master the “way of tea”, then you can build a bot and automate your zen experience. That’s exactly what the people at Ano Labs did when they built their Japanese Tea Ceremony Robot #151A.
The Japanese hacking scene is really interesting because there’s an aesthetic to creating very technical things that perform tasks that aren’t particularly useful. Another example would be this Lego Bubble Wrap Popper:
Well, I’m glad that is not a dish of Wasabi!
Ooooooohhhmmmmmly crap this things is going to explode!
I beg to differ, and think that “Bubble Wrap Popper machines ARE particularly useful”.
Because one day or another you need to dispose of bubble wrap… and then is the bubbles are popped you do not waste as much space in your trash bin. Considering that in some town you need to pay for every bag of trash you dump, this could be a huge advantage in having such a machine.
Regarding the tea making contraption… I not so sure yet
From the link:
“Give a moment when you feel a sense of birth in your life with delicious tea.”
On Qo’noS, the tea ceremony is a test of courage. The participants ingest tea brewed from a poisonous plant and recite poetry to each other.
I’ve seen the Japanese Tea Ceremony before. This is the first time to see the tea beaten to frothy bubble hell. Disrespect for fine caffeine. No elegance and nothing meditative. Now the LEGO bubble wrap sequential popper had those qualities but is somehow deemed useless.
This is as offensive as making a rubber robot Jesus that uses OpenCV to slap you if you look guilty.
Sen no Rikyū is turning over in his grave.
I find that the Moshi display in the end is a nice touch.
Tee seems weird tho.
In my experience you just drop 160 yen in a vending machine and pick up a bottle of cha.