The vending machines are officially creepy
What horrifying snack did you get out of it this time?
Actually, that's not the point today. Today's Sametime Status deals with technology!
Vending machine technology has advanced quite a bit in recent years. Some of them have that belt thingy so that the machine doesn't drop your Coke from 6 feet up and make it spray all over you when you open it. Props to the guy who thought that one up.
Another fairly recent innovation in the world of automated snack distribution is the use of motion detectors. Most vending machines have lights so you can see the product you're about to purchase. These lights apparently use so much energy that it actually makes financial sense to retrofit a motion detector to the top of the vending machine and program circuitry so that the light will turn off if nobody has approached the vending machine in a certain amount of time. Forget the fact that you have a giant poorly-insulated refrigerator with a clear plastic front...you have to save the planet by turning off the light bulb inside.
So completely aside from the fact that these motion detectors have GOT to be worthless...they're kinda creepy, because they have a green light on them that turns on when motion is detected. I'll be walking down the hallway past the vending area and the little green lights turn on one at a time when they see me. Of course...maybe they're not motion detectors...maybe the vending machines are already linked to Skynet or something.
No comments:
Post a Comment