Twitter is no longer just a platform to share ideas, debate points and make new friends.
Now, with a single tweet, you can order a can of iced tea from what must be one of the world’s smartest vending machines – which answers to the name BEV.
Up until Friday, BEV, who has been calling Wembley Square in Gardens home since last week, will dispense free BOS Ice Teas one tweet at a time.
BEV first made her debut at this year’s Design Indaba. Originally triggered by tokens, it has recently been tweaked to respond to tweets.
So, whenever a tweet to @BOS with unique hashtag #BOSTWEET4T is posted, BEV obliges by spewing out a BOS Iced Tea.
BEV is rigged with a series of microphones, cameras, trigger switches and sound activated LEDs to amplify the machine’s personality. A warm welcome of “You look thirsty human, allow me to help you” is displayed on an LED screen if anyone approaches.
The machine works by connecting to Twitter’s streaming API (application programming interface) as soon as it registers the configured hashtag as a filter. - Cape Argus