Future Tech: Kraft’s Meal Planner Solution tells you what’s for dinner

Here at Future Tech, we say the crazier, the better. A face-scanner that tells you what you’d like to eat and could be available later this year? That’s a whole new level.

By Emmet Purcell

Have you ever had a friend say to you “What are you thinking of having for dinner?” and thought to yourself, “I’m not sure, but I wish a giant machine would get over here and scan my face to see…”? Of course you haven’t, no-one has, though it hasn’t stopped Kraft Foods from creating their own version of such a machine, the Meal Planner Solution.

A collaboration with Intel and Kraft, the Meal Planner Solution is expected to reach at least one US retail location by the end of the year. The technology inside the machine is 86% accurate in determining gender, 70% accurate I determining between young adults and adults and 80% accurate between children and the elderly.

Here’s Kraft’s Donald King, blowing our minds

The face-scanning system, however, is unable to detect which foods you are allergic to or your regular eating habits, though Intel’s director of retail and digital signage Jose Avalos told Mashable that the kiosk-like display sends “real-time video feeds to Intel’s anonymous video analytics (AVA) software and that a “combination of various facial features such as eye positioning, nose shape, cheek bones, and overall facial structure are among the variables” within the process.

In addition to scanning your face to determine what you’d like to get it (we can’t believe we actually typed that), the Meal Planner Solution is compatible with Kraft’s iFood Assistant and customer loyalty cards. Here you can see your entire purchasing history to gain recommendations and import your shopping lists stored on your iPhone by scanning a barcode at the kiosk.

Kraft have big plans for the kiosk in the near future as they work on securing a ertail partner to try out the emergent technology. If the Meal Planner really takes off, Kraft’s VP of Retail Experience Donald King believes you can expect social network sharing options activated straight from the display, such as sharing your own recipes on Facebook or Twitter.

A waste of time or a first glimpses into the future of supermarkets? We can’t pretend the worlds needs a food-based face scanner right now but we’re intrigued by the potential the kiosk invites. And yes, we’re dying to try it out.

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