For anyone who has travelled to Asia, it's jaw-dropping seeing the level of technological innovation and automation that happens there.
While we see vending machines as a last-minute resort for cooldrink or a packet of chips when the work canteen has closed or when we're at the airport and starving, for instance, in Beijing or Tokyo, they're almost everywhere, selling all sorts of wonders: for example, cupcakes, live crabs, whale meat, and HIV testing kits – which China started piloting on university campuses in 2017.
The country also became the first to launch a gold dispensing vending machine in affluent Wangfujing Street, Beijing, in 2010.
Shoppers could insert cash or use a bank card to withdraw gold bars or coins based on market prices.
