As you stand on the subway platform, shifting your feet and scanning the tunnel’s mouth, a curious feeling comes over you; you’re being watched. Slowly, cautiously, you turn your head until you find them: two big, eager eyes and a gaping mouth. You smile.

Meet Acure: the world’s most irresistible vending machine.

Everyday we are bombarded by a rush of machines, media and marketing messages. In such a noisy environment, it’s harder and harder to connect with customers around experiences that engage and delight. That’s why Eight Inc. gave Acure an oddly charming, remarkably human expression: to turn heads and make friends.

Working with a sleek, stout vending machine designed by Fumie Shibata’s, Eight Inc. created an interface and user experience that transforms the 47-inch touchscreen and mounted camera into a sentient attendant able to make thoughtful suggestions and collect valuable sales information on behalf of Japanese beverage company JR East Water Business.

Five hundred new vending machines are planned for installation by the end of 2012.