Technology advances cashless vending machines

The store of the future may not be a store at all: High-tech vending machines could potentially change the future of shopping.

You don’t need to have cash on hand to make a purchase at ViaTouch’s new smart vending machines, called VICKI, and if you have questions the machines’ artificial intelligence can answer them for you.

ViaTouch Media CEO Tom Murn told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, “You can use any payment you would like Maria, credit card, Apple Pay, or biometrics. So, you can sign up your thumb online, or your eye, and once you’re registered you just put your thumb on it, the door opens, you would pick up an item.”

According to Murn if you walk away with the item you’ll automatically get charged for the item.

“If you put it back, you didn’t pay for it, close the door, you leave.”

Murn then responded to questions about where the company is currently marketing the vending machines.

“We’re testing this in a lot of places. Believe it or not Citibank right here in the city was one of the first people to test it with us. First Data, who’s involved with us on the payment side, we’re testing with them. Marriott, Microsoft, a whole bunch of people.”

The FOX Business Networks’ Dagen McDowell asked, “In the corporate cafeteria, things like that?

“Corporate and Marriott right in the hotel to the public,” Murn said on “Mornings with Maria.”

According to Murn there is no health risk with the eye scan and it is actually one of the safest forms of payment in terms of cybersecurity.

“The eye, we did a partnership with EyeLock. The eye is like, you have DNA, then you have the eye, the iris, for recognition. So it’s probably the safest thing. And the light that hits your eye, you don’t see it so it doesn’t damage your retina at all.”

Murn says the eye scan is more secure than facial recognition.

“It works a little better because the iris moves so it looks for a lot of points and with facial recognition MIT kids beat it once in a while, they put like pictures on a manikin and beat it. You can’t beat an iris recognition.”