The world's best airport has upped its game. Singapore's Changi Airport reigned supreme over more than 550 airports at the'Oscars of Aviation' earlier this year - and now it's had a major makeover. The aviation hub, which not only clinched the title for the world's best airport overall but also for best airport dining and best airport leisure amenities at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2023, has'refreshed and expanded' its Terminal 2. With this expansion, Changi can now accommodate an extra five million passengers per year - bringing the airport's total handling capacity to 90million flyers annually. Among the standout new features at the terminal are a 46ft- (14m) tall digital waterfall, an'enchanting' garden with more than 20,000 plants, a dining area with panoramic views of the airport, and a robot bartender which serves a free cocktail to passengers. Singapore's Changi Airport, known as the world's best airport, 'refreshed and expanded' its Terminal 2. Among the standout new features at the terminal is a 46ft- (14m) tall digital waterfall Passengers can enjoy'stunning panoramic views of the airport' from the terminal's new Gourmet Garden dining area (above) The brand new Dreamscape garden, pictured, is said to'mesmerise with its enchanting array of plants' The'signature feature', a statement notes, is the aforementioned'Wonderfall' digital waterfall - a giant screen showing footage of gushing water. Set in the middle of a vertical garden in the heart of the departure hall, it's said to offer passengers a'soothing sensory experience with a seemingly endless flow of water' as they await their flight.

Cruises have been cancelled since last march, resulting in over 100,000 Americans losing their jobs per a November report. Florida has been especially hard hit with the state being home to the three busiest cruise ports in the world. Robots may be able to pour drinks, but can they listen to your troubles? The future of bartending is coming to MSC Cruises' new flagship ship when the MSC Virtuosa launches later this year. The cruise line recently revealed details of its "immersive, futuristic" bar and entertainment experience – including a "humanoid" bartender.

Japan's first robot bartender has begun serving up drinks in a Tokyo pub in a test that could usher in a wave of automation in restaurants and shops struggling to hire staff in an aging society. The repurposed industrial robot serves drinks in its own corner of a pub run by restaurant chain Yoronotaki. A face on an attached tablet computer smiles as it chats about the weather while preparing orders. The robot, made by QBIT Robotics, can pour a beer in 40 seconds and mix a cocktail in a minute. It uses four cameras to monitor customers to analyze their expressions with artificial intelligence software.

A Tokyo restaurant chain has opened a small pub in one of the city's busiest train stations, with a robot bartender serving drinks to commuters on their way home from work. Called Zeroken Robo Tavern, the bar is located in Tokyo's bustling Ikebukuro train station and is owned by Yoronotaki, a company that operates a chain of izakaya-style restaurants around the country. The Zeroken Robo Tavern in Tokyo's bustling Ikebukuro Station has a robot bartender that can serve draft beer, sake, and mixed drinks The small space opened on January 23 and will run until March 19, part of a pilot program run to see how customers respond to being served by a machine instead of a human. Customers will first pay for their drinks at an automated payment kiosk. They'll receive a QR code receipt, which they present to the robot.

Sorry, beerbot developers, you probably won't be able to get Pentagon funding for your alcohol-serving machines. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona has introduced a new section to the US Department of Defense appropriations bill, which says: "None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended for the development of a beerbot or other robot bartender." Okay, so the soon-to-retire lawmaker doesn't want the government to fund the development of silly robotic bartenders. Problem is, as IEEE Spectrum explained, he singled out a robot MIT researchers developed in 2015, which wasn't designed to be a beerbot at all. When he made his argument on the Senate floor on August 21st, he targeted the MIT research, because it was partially funded by the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force.

Last Thursday, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona introduced the following amendment to the U.S. Department of Defense appropriations bill currently in Congress: None of the amounts appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be obligated or expended for the development of a beerbot or other robot bartender. This sounds like a joke, but it's not: Legislation prohibiting Department of Defense funding of robot bartenders is on its way to becoming law. The reason why Senator Flake wants this to become law is based, at best, on a misunderstanding of how basic robotics research works. At worst, it's a deliberate decision to misrepresent the research for political gain. In 2015, MIT researchers presented a paper at the Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) conference on "Policy Search for Multi-Robot Coordination under Uncertainty" [PDF].

Mixing the perfect drink could soon be as easy as pushing a few buttons. A Los Angeles-based startup has launched the Somabar, a $430 robot bartender that can create simple mixed drinks selected by the user via the device's accompanying app. It could one day replace minibars in hotel rooms, help busy bartenders in restaurants or be used to mix drinks for airplane passengers. An LA-based startup has launched the Somabar (pictured), a robot bartender that can create mixed drinks selected by the user via the device's touchscreen or an accompanying app The Somabar is a futuristic robot bar that can mix drinks in 10 seconds or less. It's made of hardwood and plastic and can store up to six different Soma Pods, where users manually fill and remove air-tight containers of alcohol.

The silver-and-turquoise lounge, in the Miracle Mile Shops mall on the Strip, has 28 counter-style seats, each equipped with a tablet, facing a bar counter topped with two industrial-grade robotic arms. Patrons can order signature and classic cocktails, or fill a virtual cup with up to 14 ingredients of their choosing. Then the robotic arms go to work, gathering ingredients from a kind of futuristic back-bar automat; reaching up to a lattice of 120 liquor bottles; and tipping the resulting cocktail into a plastic cup proffered by a mechanical dispenser in the counter. Drinks take 60 to 90 seconds to make, and cost $12 to $16, said Stephan Mornet, president of Robotic Innovations, Tipsy Robot's parent company. For its automated bar, Tipsy Robot turned to Makr Shakr, an Italian startup that built its first robot bartender for Google I/O, the annual developer conference, in 2013. The company is one of several trying to automate bartending.

At The Tipsy Robot in Las Vegas, you can order a cocktail from a vast selection of drinks and a pair of robot arms will mix it for.

Tipsy the Robot serves a mean drink, but does he match up to the social experience offered by a human bartender? As Tipsy methodically unfolds an arm to select a glass, retrieve ice and mix a drink, it's all a far cry from the flashy swagger of Tom Cruise in Cocktail. But then he doesn't have the twinkle in his eye of a fictional Hollywood bartender -- or any eyes at all, for that matter -- because Tipsy is a robot. He won't be able to swap sporting banter or offer relationship advice to lovelorn paramours but he mixes a mean Bloody Mary for his customers at his shopping mall bar in Las Vegas. Tipsy is the logical conclusion of an increasingly space-age service industry that has already given us the mechanical cupcake dispenser and automated pizza restaurants."Monsieur"