Those Japanese touchscreen vending machines in Tokyo may be the future of street-level drink sales, but are the Japanese actually liking it? Let’s find out.
https://gizmodo.com/touchscreen-vending-machines-have-no-soul-5609273
Japan Probe summarizes:
• High school girls think it’s cool.
• Some customers have trouble figuring out what part of the screen needs to be touched in order to buy a drink.
• When it detects a young man, it recommends a sports drink or bottled water.
• When it detects a woman, it recommends tea or bottled water.
• It has trouble detecting faces when eyes are blocked by dark sunglasses.
Confusion about where to press should only be a temporary thing, and the recommendation thing sounds interesting. Recommending a cold drink when it’s hot, or a hot one when it’s cold, would be a pretty logical extension of this. I like the way you think, Japan. [Japan Probe]
