“Good day. Ohh….I see you’re a gentleman. May I suggest you a manly Redbull or extra bitter triple-shot espresso?”

This giant beverage vending machine features a big touchscreen with attractive visual and animation. But more interestingly, when a customer stands in front of the vending machine, the camera mounted above the screen will automatically detect the face, determine customer’s gender, and immediately show “suggested” tags on the selection screen.

This vending machine was sighted at 品川駅 Shinagawa Station, Tokyo. Operated by Acure, this is one of their latest innovation: 次世代型新飲料自販機 (Next Generation Drink Vending Machine) and the Development Team Blog: http://www.acure-fun.net/blog/innovation/

My thoughts:

Rich animated content

Sharp and attractive beverage pictures, and subtle animation of steam coming off the can of warm drinks. Also a side window for animated ad-banner. With a big computer screen, the content can be updated dynamically depending on time of day, weather, promotion campaign and so on.

Touchscreen interaction

Years ago when Touchscreen UI was still not very common, many users might find it difficult to understand and determine what elements on the screen are pushable buttons, or that most machines are too underpowered to generate snappy visual response back to users. However, now that computer power is cheap and plentiful, plus touchscreen interaction is popularized by smart phones and advanced gadgets, most people are now comfortable with this interaction method.

Camera to detect customer gender

As for the gender detection feature, I think it’s mostly just gimmick, if not a little sexually discriminating. I don’t care too much about what the machine thinks I might like. But thinking deeper, marketeers can gather information about user base much much faster, and are able to response to it very quickly. There might be privacy concern for now, but nobody will really care after a while.

Content from official site, with my translation:

（１）タッチパネル式
新しくタッチパネル式を採用。
高画質な大画面ディスプレイにより商品本来の魅力を表現しました。とてもおいしそう。

（２）高度なマーケティング頭脳
デジタルサイネージにより、気温や時間帯にあわせたコンテンツを配信します。
更に、お客さまの年代や性別に応じて、各商品をお勧めします。

（３）コミュニケーション
次々に変化するコンテンツと直感的な操作性。
これまでにないちょっと楽しい体験をご提供します。

1. Touch Panel Model – use of new touch panel mode. High-definition big screen displays the products original attractiveness. Looks really yummy!
2. Highly Marketing Mind – just like “Digital Signage”, the content can be updated according to temperature and time. Furthermore, according to customers’ age and gender, the machine will automatically recommend appropriate products. (wow it even reads your age!)
3. Communication – slowly changing (animated?) content and direct controllability. This vending machine offers unprecedented fun experience!