The robot café: Toto, the coffee robot from Leipzig

A coffee robot is a robot that prepares and serves coffee. At Hej Toto that is Toto: a six-axis industrial robotic arm inside a compact kiosk that picks up cups, has drinks prepared by a professional coffee machine and hands them to you at the pick-up window. Around the clock, seven days a week.

The difference to a classic vending machine is quality and show: Toto works with freshly ground beans and real espresso, foams milk like in a café and moves almost like a human arm while doing it. Anyone watching immediately understands what is happening – and many film it.

1. You choose your drink on the touchscreen – German, English and more languages – with size, type of milk and sugar. Two terminals per kiosk keep waiting times short.
2. You pay contactless: debit card, credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
3. Toto picks a cup – disposable or reusable (reCup) – and places it under the coffee machine.
4. The machine grinds the beans fresh, brews the espresso and foams cow’s or oat milk. It prepares tea and hot chocolate as well.
5. Toto puts on the lid if you like and hands you the finished cup at the pick-up window. Sensors check every step – from the cup to the fill level.
6. Done. From order to first sip it takes about as long as with a barista.

• Coffee: espresso, americano, cappuccino, cortado, flat white, latte macchiato – every milk drink with cow’s or oat milk
• Tea: ginger tea and mint tea
• Hot chocolate: dark or white, oat milk available
• Snacks: vegan organic bars made from dates and nuts
• Plus: disposable or reusable cups (reCup), sugar and lid on request

Everything freshly prepared, in two sizes; current prices are shown on the kiosk.

6

axes – the robotic arm moves like a human arm

400

hot drinks per refill, plus 200 snacks

2

terminals so nobody waits long

230 V

a standard socket is enough, no three-phase power

• Professional coffee machine with freshly ground beans, milk system and daily automatic cleaning; the milk is kept refrigerated.
• Off-grid operation: own fresh and waste water tanks, no water connection needed.
• LTE telemetry: fill levels, temperatures and operating status are visible remotely at any time; we know when milk, beans or cups run low before anyone stands in front of the kiosk.
• Camera and sensors: Toto notices when someone is standing in front of him and reacts.
• Vandal-resistant construction for public spaces, compact dimensions, shipping by standard freight, modular and extendable.
• Restocking without special skills: sensors track stock and prevent operating errors.

Reusable cups with reCup, Germany’s largest reusable-cup scheme, as an alternative to disposable cups – with the goal of going fully reusable. Oat milk for every milk drink, vegan organic snacks, regional partners for the build, and a kiosk that runs without three-phase power or a water connection.

Hej Toto comes from Leipzig, Germany. Together with regional partners, a prototype became a kiosk for continuous operation in public spaces – housing, mechanics, fluidics, pneumatics, drives, sensors, control and customer display were redeveloped for it. In February 2026 Toto went into service at Leipzig/Halle Airport; since May 2026 he has been serving coffee at Leipzig Central Station. The next step: more locations.

The market launch was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Free State of Saxony.