Vending Machines of the Future

Be it schools, colleges or commercial establishments, vending machines, also known as automatic retailing, are everywhere. Most of the time, vending machines are used to sell beverages like tea, coffee and sodas, candies, snacks, gumballs, lottery tickets etc. to people. If you look at the history of vending machines, it is believed that the first such machine was actually invented way back in 215 BC by a Greek mathematician and used in Egyptian temples to dispense holy water! Thereafter, the first commercial vending machine was installed in 1880 in England, which was coin operated and sold postcards.

It was only in the year 1888, that vending machine business made an entry into New York, America by way of the Thomas Adams Gum Company, which installed these machines at the subway platforms in New York City and sold gum. After that, there has been a no looking back, with everything, right from postcards, cigarettes, sodas, snacks, being provided through them to the customers, with just the push of a button! People would have thought that there can be nothing as convenient as these machines, but now, looking at what the vending machines of the future promise, this thinking will certainly get changed. Let us know something interesting about the future vending machines.

Machines that Recognizes Age and Sex!
Believe it or not, but there are vending machines installed at a Station in Tokyo, Japan, which can actually recognize a person's age and sex and suggest options accordingly. They have inbuilt cameras which recognize the activities taking place outside the machine. This machine comes with a 47-inch touch panel display, instead of the push-button system which are the usual fare with vending machines. They are controlled by a centralized server, which are in turn monitored by the vending company. When a customer comes in this machine's vicinity, images of various drinks are displayed on the screen. The machine will sense the customer's age and sex and then recommend a few drinks according to that. Also, if the customer wants some more information on a particular drink, such as its nutritional information, they can actually zoom in and get it! These machines are godsend for marketers as when nobody is within a ten foot radius of these machines, their screens display advertisements!

No More Credit Cards!
A Massachusetts company who is into manufacturing vending machines, proclaims that soon there will be biometric vending machines introduced in the market. These biometric machines will recognize a person through his fingerprints. Through these customers can actually connect a credit card to the imprint of their thumb! The Massachusetts company predicts that such machines, which make the customers feel engaged will be the new future of vending machines. There are also some talks going around that certain vending machines are being manufactured and tested which will allow retinal scans of the customers. The customers will thus be recognized through their retinas and thereafter, charged for their vending machine purchases.

A very useful feature of these vending machines, for companies who have installed them, is that they will come with Ethernet connections. This will enable them to recognize real fast when the machine needs to be re-stocked. Also, if the machine is somehow not working properly due to a coin being stuck in it, the monitors will report it immediately and the same fault can be corrected within no time. It is believed that these machines will get installed within the next one year. Looking at their benefits, they are indeed a "win-win" for customers, companies as well as advertisers!