The fact that this device wanted to establish and verify my identity seemed unnecessary to me and counter to what I think are bitcoin's strongest qualities.
Why do you think the device needed to establish and verify your identity? Do you think they installed all those expensive ID verifying devices for the hell of it?
I'll be blunt: they only did it because they know they'll likely go to jail if they don't collect that information.
They don't collect that data because they want to, they collect it because they are forced to by the US government. This is a similar process that you would have to go through to open a bank account at any US bank. You make it seem like "It took over 45 minutes" but this was your first withdraw, subsequent withdraws would only require the ~10 minutes to confirm your deposit of BTC into the robocoin wallet. 10 minutes to (reliably) convert BTC to cash is unheard of. As I said in another comment, the only faster method would be to use Local Bitcoins (The people running the ATM you used) but I doubt you could finish one of those transactions in less than 20 or even 30 minutes.
Of course, placing the blame on the government instead of the ATM operator doesn't invalidate your observations, but it may alter your view of the solutions.