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UCSD Biometric Vending Machine

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tracking-your-soda-habits dept.

dice writes to tell us that grad students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are creating the first biometric vending machine. The current machine comes equipped with a barcode scanner, a fingerprint reader, and a web cam for facial recognition. One student dubbed it the "most over-designed soda machine in the world." The project, code-named "SodaVision," is the brainchild of associate professor Stefan Savage, but it was the students who really made it come to life. And yes, it runs Linux.

11 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. afraid to vote.. by qewl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let me be the first to say, I'd be afraid to vote on that thing. Especially libertarian..

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  2. *sighs* by Whiney+Mac+Fanboy · · Score: 4, Funny
    from tfa:

    Stick your thumb on the reader so the machine recognizes you as having an account, take out the drink, scan it with the barcode reader, then walk way


    Lucky students are notoriously honest.
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    1. Re:*sighs* by Skim123 · · Score: 4, Informative
      I was a CS grad student at UCSD from 2001-2003. What they had when I was there was something called CafeBob or something like that. It had the barcode scanner. You'd enter your name, scan the item, and it would "deduct" the cost from your account. You could "credit" your account by putting money in a box and then, from the computer, keying in that you deposited X dollars. Very trusting. It was a "co-op" vending machine/system - students would take money from the box to go buy the sodas, snacks, and so on (IIRC).

      I guess now they're taking out the part where you entered your ID and password, and replacing it with a biometric scanner. But, if this is in the same CS grad student lounge, the barcode scanner and basic inventory software has been in place for some time now.

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  3. Many Mountain Dews... by demonbug · · Score: 4, Funny

    were killed to bring us this device.

    Seems really pointless when you think of vending machines that sell soft drinks and snacks, but I guess there could be a use for more-secure vending machines for higher-dollar items (like the one selling iPods I saw a month or two back).

  4. Hmm.. by yourOneManArmy · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I read the summary I thought, "Hey this sounds pretty useless, but maybe I just missed something." Then I read the article, and I'm still thinking, "Hey this sounds pretty useless."

    1. Re:Hmm.. by v783650 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Just because it's impractical doesn't make it useless. I'm sure the engineers behind it learned many valuable lessons. Why all the hate? There's nothing wrong with science for science's sake.

    2. Re:Hmm.. by heinousjay · · Score: 5, Funny

      There is absolutely nothing wrong with science for science's sake. This, however, was engineering for engineering's sake, which is one of the most evil forces in the universe.

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  5. Well my toaster runs NetBSD! by saterdaies · · Score: 4, Funny

    This project is nothing! Linux on a soda machine? I've had NetBSD running on my toaster for years ;)

  6. A better feature for this device by Durrok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hello! Thank you for using soda vision! You have ingested: 250 grams of sugar today, 1,800 grams of sugar this week, and 7,212 grams this month for a grand total of 15.9 lbs! Congratulations, you are a candidate for TYPE A Diabetes!

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  7. This makes no sense by pHatidic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Combining biometrics makes identification less accurate. Using both face recognition and a finger print scan would be less accurate than using either alone. For a source, see John Daugman's webpage. He is the one who invented the algorithm that modern iris scanners use.

    Anyway, methinks some investors are being taken for a ride here.

  8. Useful? We think so :-) by StefanSavage · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously, I suppose usefulness is in the eye of the beholder, but from my rather pragmatic standpoint the machine has one very important use: it allows me to get a coke with very little effort (while differentiating my debts from those of others). There's really nothing more to it that that. I think people are looking for something deep, or new a new product category, or some groundbreaking science... move on... you won't find it here.

    This project really had two goals: make it easy to buy soft drinks from our grad student co-op and have fun building a real artifact.

    The latter part -- having fun -- is underappreciated. Really, the students had a great time putting the pieces together... they had to design and build an interface board to Vendo's control bus, they had to build a UI (that student was a ST:TNG fan so the interface mimics the screens from the series), they had to interface it to our MySql database that holds user accounts, etc. It was a real esprit de coeur project and one in which everyone had alot of fun. Once it was working, people started adding other components: a 2d bar code scanner (not used for soda, contrary to the article, but for candy and other goods), they added visual recognition (and there is a banana detector in the works to register purchase of bananas), there is a voice synthesizer that can say "Shame" out loud if your cash balance in the co-op goes negative, there is even a student who has been talking about door-to-door delivery using a robot, etc.

    I suspect if we had called it a "case mod", people would have had understood the spirit in which it was built.