The average Brit reportedly spends more than two months of their life queuing for drinks at pubs and bars. According to a survey of 2,000 people, the greatest pub-related annoyance among Brits is people pushing in at queues, followed by long waits to place their orders. Disagreements over queue order can lead to fierce squabbles and even brawls between boozed-up pub patrons.

In order to help settle these disagreements, DataSparQ has developed a system (‘AI Bar’) for placing customers in a virtual queue according to the time that they began waiting at the bar. AI Bar works by capturing live video of customers at the bar via a standard webcam, which is displayed on a public-facing screen. As a new customer arrives at the bar, their face is detected and a number appears above their head on the display, representing their place in the queue. This allows customers to see where they are in the queue, as well as estimated time until they are served.

Bartenders can use a tablet behind the bar to see which customer should be served next.

The facial recognition system also estimates the age of customers: if a customer appears to be under the age of 25, they will be prompted to have their ID ready for checking.

According to DataSparQ, a trial of the technology saw an overall reduction in serving times over a year equivalent to pouring an additional 1,600 pints in the average UK pub.

“Queuing is a part of British life that we all have to endure, but we wanted to do something to improve the experience,” said John Wyllie, managing director of DataSparQ.

“It’s the uncertainty of waiting times alongside queue jumpers that’s adversely affecting consumer behaviour in bars and pubs. The AI Bar ensures it’s a hassle free, first come, first served system that makes ordering drinks more convenient for both drinkers and bar staff alike.”

According to Wyllie, DataSparQ is in talks with drinks companies and pub chains to roll out the system across the UK in the next year. “The system can be installed anywhere and is scalable, so we are expecting it to start in bars and progress into music festivals and beyond,” he said. The system costs £199 per month to run.

According to the Evening Standard, the system has been deployed in the high-end 5cc Harrild & Sons cocktail bar in Farringdon, London.

Possible future functions include allowing customers to re-order drinks while waiting by repeating the previous order, responding to basic hand signals if the customers wishes to order a different drink and adding a set of customers to a bar tab (‘FaceTab’).

The deployment of facial recognition technology in public spaces has been widely condemned by civil liberties and privacy campaigners, even leading to bans on use by public authorities in some US cities. For instance, trials of facial recognition technology by UK police have been criticised for compromising privacy and leading to mostly incorrect matches.

DataSparQ hope to reassure privacy-conscious customers by promising that all data is deleted locally and from the cloud within 24 hours of being captured, with no data being cross-referenced anywhere else (such as against police records).

The average Brit reportedly spends more than two months of their life queuing for drinks at pubs and bars. According to a survey of 2,000 people, the greatest pub-related annoyance among Brits is people pushing in at queues, followed by long waits to place their orders. Disagreements over queue order can lead to fierce squabbles and even brawls between boozed-up pub patrons.

In order to help settle these disagreements, DataSparQ has developed a system (‘AI Bar’) for placing customers in a virtual queue according to the time that they began waiting at the bar. AI Bar works by capturing live video of customers at the bar via a standard webcam, which is displayed on a public-facing screen. As a new customer arrives at the bar, their face is detected and a number appears above their head on the display, representing their place in the queue. This allows customers to see where they are in the queue, as well as estimated time until they are served.

Bartenders can use a tablet behind the bar to see which customer should be served next.

The facial recognition system also estimates the age of customers: if a customer appears to be under the age of 25, they will be prompted to have their ID ready for checking.

According to DataSparQ, a trial of the technology saw an overall reduction in serving times over a year equivalent to pouring an additional 1,600 pints in the average UK pub.

“Queuing is a part of British life that we all have to endure, but we wanted to do something to improve the experience,” said John Wyllie, managing director of DataSparQ.

“It’s the uncertainty of waiting times alongside queue jumpers that’s adversely affecting consumer behaviour in bars and pubs. The AI Bar ensures it’s a hassle free, first come, first served system that makes ordering drinks more convenient for both drinkers and bar staff alike.”

According to Wyllie, DataSparQ is in talks with drinks companies and pub chains to roll out the system across the UK in the next year. “The system can be installed anywhere and is scalable, so we are expecting it to start in bars and progress into music festivals and beyond,” he said. The system costs £199 per month to run.

According to the Evening Standard, the system has been deployed in the high-end 5cc Harrild & Sons cocktail bar in Farringdon, London.

Possible future functions include allowing customers to re-order drinks while waiting by repeating the previous order, responding to basic hand signals if the customers wishes to order a different drink and adding a set of customers to a bar tab (‘FaceTab’).

The deployment of facial recognition technology in public spaces has been widely condemned by civil liberties and privacy campaigners, even leading to bans on use by public authorities in some US cities. For instance, trials of facial recognition technology by UK police have been criticised for compromising privacy and leading to mostly incorrect matches.

DataSparQ hope to reassure privacy-conscious customers by promising that all data is deleted locally and from the cloud within 24 hours of being captured, with no data being cross-referenced anywhere else (such as against police records).