Hitachi Intros Biometric Vending Machine

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The Japanese love their vending machines. Their country has taken the automatic dispensing of everything from electronics to underwear to a level not seen in most other countries and when you couple this with their almost unnatural love for electronics, you get Hitachi’s latest invention, the Biometric Vending Machine.

Hitachi seems to have made a giant (and creepy) leap forward in the realm of vending machine technology. It has combined its proprietary biometric authentication system, which is based on the recognition of finger vein patterns in your hand, with a pretty normal-looking vending machine, to come up with a device that makes it possible for registered users to buy beverages without swiping a card or inserting a single Yen.

Basically, users sign up with the program and it captures an image of the unique vein patterns in their hand so that next time they insert their digits into the machine it automatically charges the credit card they have stored on file with the company. The company also incorporated a digital signage system so that buyers will get to see personalized ads or other information on an LCD screen.

Hitachi has not released information about whether or not the biometrics vending machine will actually see mass production, but they have decided to install several of the machines throughout their office buildings in Japan. I don’t know about you, but having my veins scanned every time I want a can of Coke is just a tad bit on the violating side.