`` Crowd control '' took on a whole new meaning Wednesday night as a room full of partygoers were given power over a cocktail-making robot controlled by their smartphones . Attendees at a party for the Google I/O Conference here were invited to send a drink recipe via a smartphone app to the Makr Shakr , a three-armed robot designed especially for the show . They could then interact with attendees of similar taste to collaboratively design their perfect drink via social media . MIT 's Senseable City Lab wanted to see what would happen when you let a mass of people take control of an industrial manufacturing machine . The idea , according to project leader Yaniv Turgeman , is to demonstrate how digital technology has the potential to take the power of factory robots away from big companies and into the hands of the people . Turgeman said the team had the idea in January and hurriedly set about getting the arms -- based on the classic factory production-line robot -- programmed to gracefully slice a lemon , shake a cocktail shaker , pour liquids carefully and so on . The team purposefully chose the look of the iconic orange industrial robot arm to make the point that big manufacturing technology was now becoming accessible to everyone . `` It 's a metaphor , '' he said . `` This is the third industrial revolution . People now have the power to control very powerful technology . '' At the party , every time someone created a drink the recipe would go up on a big screen behind the bar and the crowd could see it and add their own changes to the recipe -- and try the drink . `` The point is to learn from one another , to design together , '' he said . Turgeman said there was an emerging market for people who want to make things , a movement back to craft culture that takes advantage of modern technology -- sometimes referred to as the maker movement ( hence the name of the robot ) . The movement espouses the DIY inventor or developer and promotes the sharing of free technology . He said MIT 's example of easy-access digital manufacturing could transform clothes making , furniture design -- whatever people wanted . Uses could range from manufacturers engaging focus groups in a much more hands-on way at an early stage of product development to mass customization or individual use of the machines . Jon Collins , research director at UK consultancy Inter Orbis , which specializes in the impact technology is having on society and business , said this was a model that was already working very well in web development . `` Design should take hours not weeks , with a maximum of customer interaction . It 's not hard to imagine how that could be extended to creation of , in this case drinks , but also other objects , once 3-D printing is in the mix , '' he said . `` There 's no reason at all why small-run manufacturing should not become a socially driven activity . Meanwhile it is very interesting to think how the Internet of Things - that is , devices and objects with built-in connectivity - can link to our ability to use applications and exchange information socially . '' Turgeman added : `` Before , to design , you generally had to be a designer or spend your whole life learning to be a master carver . This shifts things . The accessibility brings you back to a basic need to create . You can design , make and enjoy . ''
MIT allows partygoers to control robot bartender using their cellphones . Lab wanted drinkers to collaborate via social media to make new cocktails . Scientists say making robots available to all via phones signals `` third industrial revolution ''