UK Vending Machine Uses Video And Facial Recognition To Offer Personalized Shopping

The Luce X2 Touch TV vending machine recently debuted in Hertfordshire, U.K. and is claiming to be the first facial recognition technology vending machine available to the commercial market, according to the Telegraph. It works by using motion sensors to view a consumer approaching and then launches into a video greeting where the “machine’s avatar -- whose default setting is an Italian man in a grey suit” offers choices based on that users buying habits. Because the machine is able to identify and greet a specific user, there is also the potential for locations to restrict what a certain person can buy. For example parents could stop a Luce X2 in a school from dispensing sweets to children or a gym could prevent high calorie snacks being sold to members on a diet. Full article.