You can buy just about anything from a vending machine in Japan – alcohol, cigarettes, eggs, bags of rice, batteries... Now, you can also buy ice cream AND have it made before your eyes by Yaskawa-kun, Tokyo Summerland’s resident ice cream-making robot/vending machine. Using a touchscreen, you select the flavor, size and specifics of the cone you want, then watch as Yaskawa-kun doesn’t exactly spring to life and whip it up for you, but does a pretty good job of serving up your scoop.

If this were in the UK, I have no doubt that it’d be broken into and raided of ice cream, sprinkles and cash, within minutes of installation, but not so in Japan. You have got to love this country.

[Engadget]