I found this question quite interesting on Facebook group so would like to share with you all :)
Original post from Paul Pratt on Facebook group
It's a good question that comes up from time to time. The simple answer is that we do make changes all the time to the product, but more on the manufacturing and building side rather than anything drastic with regards the function. My entire philosophy with coffee is to keep everything as simple as possible. At the end of the day you are pushing hot water through coffee under pressure and the Robot allows you to do that in the same way as a commercial lever machine. The workflow is as easy as you can get, tamp, pull a shot and knock it out ready for the next one. You can be in and out of the kitchen in minutes. I honestly believe that you get the best out of any lever by having a laid back approach to the process. The pre-infusion on any lever really smoothes out the process and makes it a lot less tricky to work with than a pump machine. I completely understand the hobby aspect and how many tools and different baskets and things are part of the attraction, but my own feeling is that for a lever, less is more. Distribution tools, high flow baskets and other gizmos do not add anything to the coffee output. I know I have said before that you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want, however we just stick to the basic rules and then you can customise your routine as you wish.
I do however like the stirring of the coffee grounds if you have less than fluffy grinds from your grinder. That is a good thing. Almost 90% of our time at Cafelat is on the manufacturing side and I hope people can see that. This year has been an absolute nightmare to get things done. We just had a delivery of filter baskets that took I think 8 months to produce and I was very thankful to the factory for their help. We did discuss a single basket with them last year but they said no chance at the moment. Same with a different gauge bracket, supplies are scarce and it is a tricky spot to be in. Do I use up my hard won production slots by risking a new item or wait until things return to normal? There are a lot of espresso machine manufacturers in a bind at the moment. Pressure gauges are a big problem now, the supply is very tight so we had to revisit the old gauge factory. Their gauges are good but more work for me as I need to polish them, the newer style gauges were easier to install but they are so slow to produce. The one area I want 100% acknowledge we need to improve in is the user manual and some videos. Last October we had a new staff member solely for in-house design work (we normally sub contract). The new printed book is almost done, finding the time to finish it is very hard. We have been so busy she jumped roles to help with building the Robots!
------end
Here are the timelines of Robot:
- Redesigned the Robot arms by hiding the lines from the top. (October 2021)
- Redesigned the filter screen by using the silicone top pin. Reducing the damage on misused. (October 2020)
- Installed a POM guide ring on the top of the piston. A bit of grease (Loctite Superlube) has been applied on the piston and inside the main body. (September 2020)
- 1 pack of filter paper includes in each Robot package. (June 2020)
- Metal sleeve on the Barista Robot. (January 2020)
- 1 pack of MOLYKOTE® Dow Corning 111 Silicone Compound 6g includes in each Robot package. (June 2019)