Target offers in-store finger nail painting — by a robot

Target Corp. is testing a new type of beauty service.

The retailer has installed an automated machine that uses artificial intelligence and 3D technology for nail finger-painting. The technology, from Clockwise, has been installed in three Target stores to date: two in Northern California (Walnut Creek and San Manteo) and one in Chaska, Minn.

The robot-enabled manicure or “Mini-Cure” in Clockswise speak, costs $10, with a $2 discount for first-time customers. Appointments can be booked online. 

The machine only paints customers’ nails, it does not file or shape them. (If needed, nail polish remover and files are provided on-site.)

According to a report by CNN, to use the service, customers place a finger in an indicated area and slide it into the machine, where two cameras take about 100 pictures of the nail, with the images used to create a 3-D point cloud showing the shape of the nail.

The information is then used by algorithms that figure out things such as how (and how fast) the machine's polish-dispensing pipette should move to apply paint to the nail, the report said.