“Britvic has installed vending machines across the UK which dispenses free drinks to those who can prove their intelligence via a series of tests
The “smart” vending machines, which promote a brand of flavoured spring water called Juicy Drench, have touch-screens programmed with games that test mental agility. The idea is to reinforce the message that our brains perform best when they are hydrated.
Although presumably that means that you need to have drunk a Juicy Drench before playing in order to then win a free drink.
Most of the tests — which you can try out online — are a matter of simple maths, spot the difference, or spatial awareness. The vending machines will be installed in UK cities including London, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham this month
This is the latest in a series of vending machine innovations. Last month Wired.co.uk reported on a German publishing company Hamburger Automatenverlag (Hamburg Automatic Publishing) that adapted old cigarette vending machines to sell books instead of cigarettes at various locations in Hamburg.
Meanwhile in June, Unilever announced the launch of vending machines which reward consumers that smile, through the use of face-reading technology, and a Japanese vending machine company began trialling machines that can read the user’s age and gender.”
Read more at Wired (Thanks @XxLadyClaireXx)
Most vending machines already are a test of intelligence, with poorly designed layouts and insufficient information on how to operate them. No standardisation across the industry and little attention to ergonomics!
Wow, interesting!
Where I used to work there was an ordinary vending machine that would test me and my co-workers agility.
It was free just like this one, except the agility came because there was a que of people behind you and everyone seems to make their best effort to take the cup as soon as possible.
The machine had a spinning thing after the holder opens, this requires the employee to snatch the cup as soon as it appears available and get out of the way for the next person to press the button and repeat the agility training…
These look cool, but might be a problem if:
A) You’re sat in a stuffy waiting lounge at 4am and just want a drink, not an IQ test.
B) The guy next to you passes out from dehydration and your ability to rouse him in a timely manner is better served by a £1 coin, not a quiz.
Cute idea though.
I wonder what the japanese machine will tell a transvestite regarding gender ..
And age?? I dont think that is wise, although the machine might actually not tell the client but save it on a chip for marketing research.
Our elevator speaks. Cool huh?! I’m trying to get it to say my name .. we practice daily ..
This is just to get us ready to bend over to our future overlords the machines (which btw is the same as corporations)
they’ve made a drink from judi dench? that’s awful.
I helped out with the making of Mark Thomas’s Dispatches documentary on Coca Cola for channel 4 and whilst Mark was researching Coke he discovered they are working on a vending machine with a built in thermostat that affects the price of your cold drink, which basically means that the hotter the day is the more they could charge for a cold drink!! (But of course we already knew they are evil, right?!)
This reminds me that at the time Mark was toying with the idea of getting Derren involved with some kind of stunt/prank ad campaign…unfortunately it never happened which I was very disappointed in as I am a big fan of magic, mystery and all things Derren Brown!! Would have been great to work with Derren as well as Mark!
Re my previous post about Coca Cola vending machines…whilst we were working on the campaign we also distributed 1000s of these ‘Out of Order’ stickers which some decided would be best placed on Coke vending machines in the hope that at a glance punters would believe the machine to be ‘Out of Order’ and not make a purchase!
Of course the ‘Out of Order’ comment was on said stickers in relation to the companies unethical practices, and not for purposes of sabotaging vending machine sales!! One version of the sticker can be seen at the link below, just so you get the idea, not that anyone would ever condone sticking them on Coke’s machines as described above!!
http://www.killercoke.org/outoforder.jpg