Yawn-Activated Machine Gives Away Free Coffee

210 passengers passing through Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport last week got a surprise when an unattended machine started dispensing free coffee. As soon as its facial recognition software detected a yawn, that is.

The machine's appearance was an advertising stunt titled 'Bye Bye Red Eye', designed to promote Dutch coffee company, Douwe Egberts, who boast that 'Research shows when people try Douwe Egberts coffee, they switch to it'. With that kind of confidence, why not give it away?

Sadly, no visible display of fatigue, or amount of cash, has the power to buy a machine for private use - it's not on the market anywhere, as far as we can tell. Given the number of caffeine addicts who can't even speak before they're clinging to a coffee, perhaps it won't be long before someone comes up with a version suitable for homes and offices.

Try watching the video below without yawning. We bet you can't.

[via Mashable]