Personalised vending

Photo / Martin Sykes

For you sir, a canned coffee. And for madam, perhaps a nice cold tea.

A new Japanese canned drink vending machine in Tokyo uses facial recognition technology to "recommend" drinks based on the customer's age and gender - and sales have tripled over those from regular vending machines as a result.

The machines use large touch-panel screens with sensors that allow the machine to determine the characteristics of an approaching customer.