N.S. news: Company launches alcohol vending machines [Video]

Dartmouth native Corey Yantha has launched SmartServ, a vending machine for beer and ready-made alcoholic drinks.

“We developed some really cool technology that authenticates a person,” said Yantha, who is the founder and CEO Dispension Industries Inc., which employs a team of 10 and they work closely with an engineering firm in Markham, Ont.

The vending machines scan a government ID to ensure the consumer is legal drinking age, then a facial scan compares the picture to the ID to provide a secondary level of authentication.

“And then we complete our purchase,” said Yantha. “And our machine actually cracks the can open for them. We can do a transaction under 45 seconds.”

Yantha hopes to have these machines in place at Scotiabank Centre and other venues in the near future, once they have received government regulatory approval.

In a statement to CTV News Atlantic, the N.S. Alcohol and Gaming Department said, “Further …