Some students at UCSD have too much time on their hands:
A group of grad students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are in the process of creating what one of the students calls the "most over-designed soda machine in the world."
Right now, the machine has attached to it a barcode scanner, a fingerprint reader, and a web cam for facial recognition. Want a Coke? Stick your thumb on the reader so the machine recognizes you as having an account, take out the drink, then walk way, never having had to reach into your pocket for change.
The project, called SodaVision (sodavision.com), is the brainchild of UCSD engineering associate professor Stefan Savage. (Link added to original.)
Because -- after all -- who wouldn't be willing to undergo a retinal scan and perhaps even a rectal examination to get a soda? We all need a Pepsi that much.
Other than the small problem that putting it into practice would require you to be recorded into the database, this seems like a wonderfully practical idea.
Oh and this is the best. Check out the picture (from their homepage) they used for the interface...
Hat-tip: Slashdot.
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