"Biometric" soda machine

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Aug 4th 2006 @ 2:34PM

Nicole recently posted about fingerprint scanners used by school cafeterias to ensure that kids are eating healthy meals. Well, some graduate students have now used similar technology to make getting junk food easier. An engineering professor at the University of California San Diego started the "biometric soda machine" project and students in his department have since outfitted a regular snack machine with thumbprint and facial recognition, as well as a bar code scanner, CR80 News reported. The goal of the project, known as SodaVision, is an easy, debit-based system where people can walk up to the machine, be recognized, choose their snack and walk away. A visit to the SodaVision site also has examples of the machine's interface, which looks like a screen from Star Trek.

[Via Pure Pedantry]

Filed Under: Science, On the Blogs
Tags: america, barcode, biometric, computer, face, facial, finger, machine, print, recognition, san diego, scan, snack, soda, students, thumb, ucsd