Nowadays, there are so many types of vending machines. These range from those that dispense food and snacks for your pocket to those that give you the morning newspaper. The one thing in common with a lot of these machines is that it requires you to interact with it by choosing which item you want before inserting your precious money.
Thanks to the experiment of an MIT student, the future of vending machines may just be tied up to our favorite smart phones.
The student, Chris Varenhorst, has found and bought a cheap fizzy drink vending machine on Craigslist. This particular dispenser is an old, 1977 model but it was still functioning.
Chris then proceeded to gut out the vending machine and play around with the basic circuitry inside. His goal was to give it internet access and then make it app compatible. The iPhone app would then serve as the means for the soda machine to get the go signal to release a drink with a simple click on the iPhone touch screen.
The experiment turned out to be a resounding success! Chris then went on to install a panel which could serve as another way for the user to tell the dispenser to release a drink. The user simply has to touch the big panel and voila, instant thirst quenchers.
The creator is not going to use the dispenser for his house though, it seems that he has put it up for auction at eBay and is aiming to give part of the profit to his charity of choice, the Kiva Foundation.
With almost every home having access to a smart phone, it may not be too far off to see a future filled with app controlled vending machines and other public use dispensers. It seems like the practical next step, since with an app, the possibilities are endless.
