Rise of the Machines: A look at the most unusual vending machines popping up around the globe.
Innovation happens perpetually. Right now there are scientists working on nanorobots that can navigate our bloodstream to deliver targeted medicine to cancer cells. And Google is putting the finishing touches on the self-driving car.
But at this very moment in time, there is a technological breakthrough that’s even more exciting. The Sprinkles 24-hour Cupcake ATM. That’s right — a machine that dispenses cupcakes all day and night, on demand. And demand is high! The machine is spitting out 1,000 cupcakes a day to satisfy the cravings of the fifty-person line that wraps around the block.
As a lover of big ideas (and frosting), I have to say that the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM is a brilliant concept. But why stop there? According to Smarter Travel the cupcake ATM is just one of many unusual vending machines around the world — some ingenious, some absurd. These machines dispense items like bicycles, solid gold bars, clean clothing, marijuana and pizza (I’m assuming the last two machines are close together).
And did you know you could get crabs from a vending machine? It’s true, according to this slideshow from MSNBC. They also feature a vending machine equipped with a hair straightener that, for five bucks, heats up for five minutes.
Some personal favorites of mine are the vending machines that dispense powerful messages. Here are two great ways that the vending machine has been used to make people think about important issues. The first, an advertisement for workplace safety, dispenses loose body parts.
The second concept shows passersby just how easy it is to get a firearm in South Africa.
From fresh ideas to fresh underwear, there’s pretty much no limit to what you can expect to find in a vending machine these days. Can you think of anything that has been overlooked?