This machine doesn't want your money.
At first glance, the maroon Douwe Egberts coffee machine at the O.R.
Tambo International Airport in South Africa looks pretty normal. On
close inspection, it's missing something important. There's no place to
put money. The only currency the machine deals in is yawns.
Facial-recognition software built into the machine looks for people
standing in front of it. It maps their faces and waits for the telltale
signs of a yawn. A yawn triggers a hot cup of coffee.
The international coffee company chose the airport as a prime place
full of weary passengers and plenty of yawning. Over the course of the
marketing stunt, the machine reacted to 210 yawns, doling out the
caffeinated antidote by the cup.
Perhaps this technology could be incorporated into a device for the
home. You could stumble into your kitchen in the morning, fumble over to
your coffee maker, give it a big yawn, and collect your morning brew.
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