By . Sarah Griffiths . PUBLISHED: . 05:17 EST, 18 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:44 EST, 18 September 2013 . From making eye contact with a bartender to leaning over the counter, many people have secret strategies for getting served quickly at a bar. But now scientists have said it is as simple as where and how you stand. German researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or are directly in front of them, instead of whether they have cash at the ready or are snapping their fingers. The scientists' study of body language is being used to develop a bartending robot that will be able to spot who really wants a drink and serve them in the fairest order. Scroll down for video . German researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or are directly in front of them, instead of whether they have cash at the ready or are snapping their fingers . Researchers from the Bielefeld University found nine out of 10 thirsty customers adopted the subtle approach of deliberately facing the bar, which is the most successful for getting noticed and served, according to the study. By contrast, only one in 15 customers looked at their wallets to signal that they would like to place an order while fewer than one in 25 customers gestured at the bartender. Those not needing to quench their thirst subconsciously maintained a small distance to the bar and turned away from it by chatting to friends instead, signalling to staff that they did not want service, the scientists said. Psychologist Sebastian Loth said: 'Effectively, the customers identify themselves as ordering and non-ordering people through their behaviour.' The study, published in online journal Frontiers in Psychology, looked at recordings of customers at nightclubs in Edinburgh and Germany to analyse how their body language attracted the bar staff’s attention. The findings form part of pan-Europe research to develop a bartending robot that is able to spot who wants a drink. Scientists found only one in 15 customers looked at their wallets to signal that they wanted like to place an order while fewer than one in 25 customers gestured at the bartender . Named James after the EU-funded programme, Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems, its head is a tablet computer showing big, comic-style eyes, which can establish eye contact with the customers. James' mouth moves in sync with its speech and the one-armed metal body forming its torso is fixed behind the bar, where James accepts drink orders, reaches for the drink using its arm and a four-fingered hand and serves them to its customers. The aim is to advance technology so that James can display socially intelligent behaviour that humans take for granted in daily life. Jan de Ruiter said: 'In order to respond appropriately to its customers the robot must be able to recognise human social behaviour.' James should be able to understand users who have no prior knowledge about the robot and who have not been briefed in any way. In the noisy environment of a night club, the system cannot rely on its language components alone so the robot learns how to interpret body language. The findings form part of pan-Europe research to develop a bartending robot (pictured) that is able to spot who wants a drink. Named James after the EU-funded programme, its head is a tablet computer showing big, comic-style eyes, which can establish eye contact with the customers . Professor Ruiter added: 'Currently, we are working on the robot’s ability to recognise when a customer is bidding for its attention, thus, we have studied the process of ordering a drink in real life.' The robot requires a clear-cut definition of which signals indicate an order and which do not. Without a proper definition, it will misinterpret its customers’ signals, which could annoy people by responding inappropriately to their behaviour. The findings of the behavioral bar study were used to update James’ programming. Dr Loth said: 'With the update, James only talks to people whose position and body posture clearly indicate that they wish to order a drink. 'Only if the system is certain that the customers would like to order a drink, James will respond in Received Pronunciation "How can I help you?" But cutting the queue is a no-go with James. It maintains the order of the customers by memorising who came first.'
German researchers said busy bar staff .
choose customers to serve quickly who are standing facing the bar or .
directly in front of them .
University of Bielefeld scientists said 90 per cent of customers deliberately face the bar, while 1 in 15 look at their wallets to signal they want a drink .
Their study of body language will be used to develop a bartending robot designed to remember which customers should be served first .
By . Sarah Griffiths . PUBLISHED: . 05:17 EST, 18 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:44 EST, 18 September 2013 . From making eye contact with a bartender to leaning over the counter, many people have secret strategies for getting served quickly at a bar. But now scientists have said it is as simple as where and how you stand. German researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or are directly in front of them, instead of whether they have cash at the ready or are snapping their fingers. The scientists' study of body language is being used to develop a bartending robot that will be able to spot who really wants a drink and serve them in the fairest order. Scroll down for video . German researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or are directly in front of them, instead of whether they have cash at the ready or are snapping their fingers . Researchers from the Bielefeld University found nine out of 10 thirsty customers adopted the subtle approach of deliberately facing the bar, which is the most successful for getting noticed and served, according to the study. By contrast, only one in 15 customers looked at their wallets to signal that they would like to place an order while fewer than one in 25 customers gestured at the bartender. Those not needing to quench their thirst subconsciously maintained a small distance to the bar and turned away from it by chatting to friends instead, signalling to staff that they did not want service, the scientists said. Psychologist Sebastian Loth said: 'Effectively, the customers identify themselves as ordering and non-ordering people through their behaviour.' The study, published in online journal Frontiers in Psychology, looked at recordings of customers at nightclubs in Edinburgh and Germany to analyse how their body language attracted the bar staff’s attention. The findings form part of pan-Europe research to develop a bartending robot that is able to spot who wants a drink. Scientists found only one in 15 customers looked at their wallets to signal that they wanted like to place an order while fewer than one in 25 customers gestured at the bartender . Named James after the EU-funded programme, Joint Action in Multimodal Embodied Systems, its head is a tablet computer showing big, comic-style eyes, which can establish eye contact with the customers. James' mouth moves in sync with its speech and the one-armed metal body forming its torso is fixed behind the bar, where James accepts drink orders, reaches for the drink using its arm and a four-fingered hand and serves them to its customers. The aim is to advance technology so that James can display socially intelligent behaviour that humans take for granted in daily life. Jan de Ruiter said: 'In order to respond appropriately to its customers the robot must be able to recognise human social behaviour.' James should be able to understand users who have no prior knowledge about the robot and who have not been briefed in any way. In the noisy environment of a night club, the system cannot rely on its language components alone so the robot learns how to interpret body language. The findings form part of pan-Europe research to develop a bartending robot (pictured) that is able to spot who wants a drink. Named James after the EU-funded programme, its head is a tablet computer showing big, comic-style eyes, which can establish eye contact with the customers . Professor Ruiter added: 'Currently, we are working on the robot’s ability to recognise when a customer is bidding for its attention, thus, we have studied the process of ordering a drink in real life.' The robot requires a clear-cut definition of which signals indicate an order and which do not. Without a proper definition, it will misinterpret its customers’ signals, which could annoy people by responding inappropriately to their behaviour. The findings of the behavioral bar study were used to update James’ programming. Dr Loth said: 'With the update, James only talks to people whose position and body posture clearly indicate that they wish to order a drink. 'Only if the system is certain that the customers would like to order a drink, James will respond in Received Pronunciation "How can I help you?" But cutting the queue is a no-go with James. It maintains the order of the customers by memorising who came first.'
researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or fingers. The scientists' study of body language is being used to develop a bartending robot that will be able to spot who really wants a drink and video . German researchers said busy bar staff choose customers to serve if they are standing facing the bar or are directly in front of them, 15 customers looked at their wallets to signal