Enhanced a traditional vending machine to accept Learning Factory points instead of cash/credit through hardware and software modifications.
Sponsored by: Dr. Matt Parkinson –– The Learning Factory
Team Members
Parker Ginn William Lindoerfer Priyanka Aiyer Muskan Rathi Shane Gregan
Instructor: Dr. Oren Gall
Project Poster
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Project Video
Project Summary
Overview
The Penn State Learning Factory is a workspace for students to design and develop projects for both classes and personal use. With the opening of the new West 2 building, the size and scope of the Learning Factory is getting a major upgrade. The Learning Factory vending machine – a vending machine that provides frequent users of the Learning Factory with t shirts, water bottles, scarves, and many other items – needs to be upgraded and ready for production. The team was tasked with fixing and upgrading the vending machine for rollout in the new West 2 location.
Objectives
-Gain an understanding of the existing state of the vending machine from previous teams.
-Get the machine to a state where it can be used by students while simultaneously being upgraded.
-Research, design, and install upgrades to the machine for rollout in West 2 location in Fall 2023.
Approach
-Divided team into “hardware” and “software” sections and studied the current state of the vending machine to develop understanding of the problems.
-Conducted research to understand the best course of action and if a potential solution was feasible.
-Installed a touchscreen for users to have a better interaction experience with the machine, 3D printed and mounted the pi-hat system, added an easy access kill switch to the pi-hat and machine, added cable management inside machine for easy maintenance.
-Developed a python program for the touchscreen that allows for proper point deduction and redistribution, limits user interaction to twice per day, updates database with purchase log in real time, displays the item selected, and allows for order cancellation.
Outcomes
-Created a program that is fully compatible with vending machine capabilities and the learning factory point system.
-Installed upgrades to the machine that allows for easy access to important cables and devices as well as restock ability, protects from theft, modular pricing capability, and is visually pleasing.
-Designed the machine for long term use at a high volume for the new West 2 building.