A set of smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo is expected to be removed from campus after students raised privacy concerns about their software.

A set of smart vending machines at the University of Waterloo is expected to be removed from campus after students raised privacy concerns about their software.

The machines have M&M artwork on them and sell chocolate and other candy. They are located throughout campus, including in the Modern Languages building and Hagey Hall.

Earlier this month, a student noticed an error message on one of the machines in the Modern Languages building. It appeared to indicate there was a problem with a facial recognition application.

“We wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for the application error. There’s no warning here,” said River Stanley, a fourth-year student, who investigated the machines for an article in the university publication, mathNEWS.

    • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      1 year ago

      I feel like it’d be tough to find a chip powerful enough to capture demographic attributes while also cheap enough to ship in vending machines? But admittedly I’ve little context on embedded systems and their capabilities

      • MajorSauce@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        While I have no idea how much a computerized vending machine costs, I found this article about a age/gender classifier that runs on a Raspberry Pi 4.

        Looking at the machine’s big touchscreen, I think this classifier would fit on the SBC or require a relatively small upgrade.