'Eye-operated' cash till trial kicks off

The technology will be installed in at least one of the building society's cash machines at its Swindon branch, as well as at the counter. The six-month trial, which was due to start this week, will involve taking a digital record of a user's iris. Thereafter, the user will have the choice of being recognised by his or her iris or PIN number. Initally, 1,000 customers will be involved in the trial. The system uses a camera to capture a digital record of a customer's iris in a once-only non-intrusive procedure. There is no requirement to shine any form of light or laser beam into the eye. The system can then verify the iris for a database or smart card whenever the user carries out a transaction. The iris identification method does, however, have certain limitations. Anyone more than 6'6' tall will be out of the camera's range, and the infrared light used by the machine cannot penetrate some spectacle lens coatings.