Here’s looking at you
Japanese vending machine manufacturer Fujitaka Co. has come up with a new type of vending machine that uses a camera and face-recognition software to take a look the people trying to purchase cigarettes to see if they are old enough.
The vending machine has an “adult recognition” button, and when this is pressed a tiny camera takes a photo of the customer and analyzes certain features such as wrinkles and sagging around the eyes and mouth as well as the frame of the potential buyer’s body to determine a general age.
In a test with 500 people ranging in age from their teens to their 60s, this software was able to identify adults with 90% accuracy.
The software has more trouble judging age the younger the potential purchaser, so people in the twenties probably will need to insert an ID to prove their age. The software then compares the face of the buyer with the photo on the ID.
Via The Raw Feed
In the US, I could imagine a subculture of people who’d try these machines just to make sure they still looked young.
November 5th, 2007 at 1:49 amThat part about “analyzes certain features such as wrinkles and sagging around the eyes and mouth” is depressing, isn’t it?
November 5th, 2007 at 3:01 amAs someone who was successfully able to by smokes without a card at 15 and beer at 17 I can tell you that it was cool at first having those sagging lines and thick facial hair.
Now I get embarrassed looks occasionally with one girl saying I was “cute” but too old. We were both 21.
lame.
November 5th, 2007 at 4:36 am