For now-college student Joel Grayson, making something that combined his interests in mechanics, electronics, and programming while being simultaneously useful to those around him was a longtime goal. His recent Venderoo project is exactly that, as the creatively named vending machine was designed and built from the ground up to dispense snacks in his former high school to fellow classmates.

Constructing Venderoo started with a sketch that featured the dimensions, vending mechanism, and the electronics panel on the left. Then through a combination of a CNC router and a jigsaw, Grayson meticulously cut out each plywood panel and assembled them together along with clear acrylic sheets so students could observe the machine in-action. On the electronics side, an Arduino Mega 2560 is responsible for handling selections on the keypad, displaying commands/feedback to users via the character LCD, accepting money, and rotating the motors when it’s time to dispense.

When a student first approaches Venderoo, they are greeted by a message instructing them to select their snack of choice, after which the price will appear and ask for a combination of $1 or $5 bills, depending on the price. Once the balance has met the threshold, Venderoo will find the location of the snack and spin the appropriate motor thanks to powerful MOSFET drivers.

To see more about how Grayson’s Venderoo vending machine works, watch the video below!

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