DyDo is trying to find out with help from Toyota.
The enormous number of vending machines in Japan is a bit of a double-edged sword. Despite the convenient access to hot and cold drinks in just about every corner of the country, they can be eyesores, especially if you’re not accustomed to seeing a Coca-Cola or Suntory logo every 100 meters or so along a stretch of road.
Standing out is certainly an important factor in creating a profitable vending machine, but public aesthetics ought to be considered as well. That’s why certain areas, such as many of Kyoto’s historic sites, have introduced regulations regarding what colors vending machines are allowed to use. This puts the burden back onto the machine producers, who must individually design and manufacture machines rather than cheaper mass production.
One machine maker that struggles with this issue is DyDo Drinco, and they’ve been hard at work coming up with solutions. Their most recent innovation was recently unveiled at the newly opened Toyota Woven City. It’s admittedly not much to look at, but that’s the point.
It’s called Haku, which is a Japanese word for “white” and fitting for this very white machine. Gone are the product displays, buttons, and slots to insert money, all replaced by a flat white surface. However, the front side is actually a screen that can display images or video which easily change to adapt for any environment and time. This means it can take on sober wood tones in a historic site or flash vibrant neon colors to stand out among all the machines in a game center.
▼ And if you have an all-white interior? Even better!
Drinks are bought by scanning a QR code with your smartphone which opens a menu of available products on the screen of your device and allows you to purchase digitally. This, of course, means cash would not be an option with them.
Readers of the news online were rather quick to trash this new vending machine concept. I mean, even gauging by the standard cynicism of the Internet, comments seemed to come down on this machine especially hard for some reason.
“It’s stupid. It’s a stupid invention.”
“That’s crazy.”
“I bet they’re planning to make money by showing commercials on those.”
“If they really want to make money, they should add slot machines to vending machines.”
“Maybe if they just made better tasting canned coffee…”
“If those things get damaged it’ll cost a lot more than regular machines.”
“Seems like a pain to use. If there’s a regular machine nearby, I’d use that instead.”
“Vending machines are supposed to be convenient. These don’t look convenient.”
“Why won’t they show any of the displays? I want to see what it can do.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to see what’s available in the machine?”
I would imagine the display would feature the products inside somehow, but rather than simply a lineup of bottles and cans, the products can also be shown on the screen in a way that more seamlessly integrates with the surroundings.
It is also a little disappointing we can’t see the display in action, but Haku isn’t a fully realized product yet and is still in testing. It’s a part of Toyota Woven City’s first phase which opened on 25 September. Woven City is a small but urban area created entirely by Toyota to function both as a real town and as a testing ground for developing technologies.
Haku is one such technology and will continue to evolve based on feedback from Toyota Woven City’s residents and visitors. So, let’s not be too quick to judge DyDo and their machine just yet. Let them vend for a while first.
Source: PR Times, Itai News, IT Media
Images: PR Times
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