Students at a German university have facilitated the downfall of human civilisation by developing a robot to replace the pub landlord, Ananova chillingly reports.

So far though, the Hermann the barman can only pour pressurised German wheat beer - child's play relative to the fine art of pulling a pint of foaming nut-brown ale.

Professor Thomas Weber at the Technical University of Darmstadt set students the challenge of bringing in a working prototype for £53, in the hope that it will go into mass production.

The misanthrope tried to mitigate his treason against humanity: "We don't want to compete with landlords, merely make their lives and those of their waiters easier."®

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