ATM’s Could Soon Spray Thieves With Hot Liquid Chemicals

It seems like I’ve seen a lot of news items lately regarding ATM’s getting robbed all over the world. While they may seem like a pretty tempting target for criminals since they don’t fight back or give them any “real” trouble, ATM’s might not be so simple to break into in the future. It turns out that ETH Zurich out of Switzerland has been coming up with some pretty unique methods to stop ATM’s from getting broken into. In short, they want the machines to fight back.

And just where did they look for their inspiration? From nature of course. More specifically, they looked at bombardier beetles, which are able to cause a small gas explosion when it thinks a predator is closing in. They thought, “Why can’t we do that same thing when an ATM feels threatened?” And so, that’s what they’re trying to do. They’ve created a certain kind of film layer that when it gets broken releases hydrogen peroxide and manganese dioxide. And, when those two chemicals mix together, they would be sprayed at a temperature of around 80 degrees onto the face of the unsuspecting criminal.

Along with getting a bit of a burn to the face, any of the money that was stolen would also be dyed by the chemicals. The chemicals would also be able to be tracked thanks to nanoparticles found on the dyed money.

Who knows if and when we will ever see this technology implemented all over the world, but if it ever does happen, I can imagine the number of ATM thefts dropping drastically.

I don’t know how you feel about this type of defense measure, but I think it’s a pretty genius idea. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

[Image via BostonHerald]

SOURCE: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/thieves-tampering-with-atms-could-soon-face-nasty-blast-of-hot-foam/#!MrdHx