Vending machines with biometric age verification roll out in Germany, US

Vending machines are growing in popularity as a way to sell age-restricted products around the world, with Diebold Nixdorf algorithms in Germany and IDScan.net technology in America serving up the latest examples.

A store in rural Germany which sells food and alcohol is using facial age estimation from Diebold Nixdorf to ensure age-restricted goods are not sold to minors, even with a self-checkout and unstaffed operations model.

The store, known as “Dorfladen Freckenfeld – Powered by EDEKA Paul,” runs a pair of DN Series EASY eXpress self-service checkout lanes for cashless payments. It had been closed for nearly a year when a new owner decided to re-open it as a 24/7 retailer with a new staffing model.

The system uses Diebold Nixdorf’s Vynamic Smart Vision biometric facial age estimation technology to check if the customer appears to be above a certain age threshold. If not, then either a staff-person is alerted, or the person scans an ID card to prove their age.

Vynamic Smart Vision is a retail video analytics platform, and the age estimation capability appears to have been developed, or perhaps integrated, in partnership with Yoti. Robin Tombs, CEO and co-founder of Yoti, says in a LinkedIn post that his company is working with Diebold Nixdorf and Edeka.

“The village store in Freckenfeld is a successful example of how modern store technology with self-service checkouts can help to ensure that local supplies, which are urgently needed in rural areas in particular, are available around the clock,” says Diebold Nixdorf VP of Retail Technology Solutions Matt Redwood. “The automatic, AI-based age verification solution also enables a faster checkout process. This pleases customers and allows employees to concentrate on their core tasks.”

Biometric vending machines gain ground in US

Cities in Ohio are also embracing self-service vending for age-restricted goods.

A beer vending machine has been launched in Columbus, Ohio by craft brewer Land-Grant brewing and local partner VenGuard, 614NOW reports. The vending machine uses face biometrics for age verification by comparing a photo to the image on a scanned ID card. The system is also trained to recognize fake IDs, training an algorithm with fakes collected from area bars, according to the report.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, Boxxtech has rolled out a second vending machine for alcohol sales at Progressive Field, home of the Cleveland Guardians. Boxx vending machines use IDScan.net for age verification. Like in the VenGuard machines and others using IDScan.net for products including bullets, the vending machine scans a customer’s ID and then compares their face biometrics to confirm their age.

The first Boxx was deployed to sell alcohol at Guardians games last year, with the aim of reducing how long customers have to wait in line. Sales take about 30 seconds, according to an announcement from IDScan.net.

Progressive Field has had biometric fan entry supplied by Clear since 2019.

Across town at Cleveland Browns Stadium, IDmission’s technology is used for biometric age verification at concessions operated by Aramark.

The same system is also deployed to “Walk Thru Brus” locations at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Empower Field at Mile High in Denver and Soldier Field in Chicago.

This post was updated at 1:56pm Eastern on July 24, 2024 to include Yoti’s involvement in the Edeka project.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  Diebold Nixdorf Technology  |  face biometrics  |  IDmission  |  IDScan.net  |  retail biometrics  |  vending machine  |  Yoti