If you like your coffee with a side of biometrics of a morning, Saeco’s Italian Xelsis Digital ID coffee machine might be just the thing you’re looking for to add to your high-tech kitchen.
A large-scale device for those who are serious about their caffeine intake, the Italian Xelsis Digital ID coffee machine – showcased over on Born Rich – is designed to allow the well-heeled individual to program their favorite beverage into its on-board controller and tie it to their fingerprint – meaning no poking at fiddly controls or peering at the small colour display before your eyes have entirely focused in the morning.
Designed for an average-sized household with a fair wodge of disposable income, the Xelsis Digital ID coffee machine can record the fingerprints of up to six individuals, before storing their unique coffee preferences into an internal database to be accessed via the their biometric identification – i.e. the users’ fingerprints. Each individual need only walk up to the machine and swipe their fingertip across the in-built reader to get their favorite coffee just the way they like it – no other interaction required.
If the device finds its way into a corporate environment – or a household with more than six coffee drinkers – the unlucky masses who don’t get to be one of the biometrically-registered six are able to choose their drink the traditional way via an on-screen menu located on the front of the device.
Even before you’ve spotted the fingerprint reader or seen the device in action, the Xelsis is an impressive piece of kit: with its large dimensions and stainless steel finish, it’s certainly likely to draw attention – and the stares could well turn into dropped jaws when you first get your chosen drink with nothing more than a wave of your finger.
Sadly, this kind of coffee convenience comes at a price: Saeco is aiming the Xelsis firmly at the luxury end of the market willing to drop an incredible $2,500 on what is, at the end of the day, simply a machine for heating water and passing it through coffee grounds – albeit with an impressive user interface and some neat technology thrown in.
While biometric technologies, and in particular fingerprint scanners, are finding their way into more and more everyday objects – such as LaCie’s recently released Rugged Safe external hard drive – could a coffee machine be a step too far?
