HIMANSHU RASAM
Product Manager
Intelligent Vending Machine
Project : Collaborative
Role : Product Ideation, User Experience, CAD Design, Systems Layout.
Summary
In spite of being a very common product, the form, function, and location of vending machines have not changed much in the last 100 years. They are located against the wall or in the corner, dispense one item at a time, and are always in a vertical form. It has a clumsy user interface and only accepts cash in specific denominations most of the time. I decided to try and overcome these obstacles with a new machine design
Improving the existing product
This intelligent vending machine was designed such that it can be located in the middle of large, high-traffic hallways, such as in airport terminals, malls, stadiums, or in casinos. It is designed horizontally to provide an unobtrusive body that caters to both directions of incoming traffic. In addition, everything, from ordering items to pick up, is at a waist level ensuring an accessible, ergonomic and seamless method for all to use. Shifting the location challenges and plans to change the perceptions of the vending machine forever. People will no longer need to search for vending machines to purchase their items in a remote part of a large building.
Designing a better user experience
This design focuses on user insights gained after extensive user research. The two way access makes the process more fluid in nature. The customers interact with a unique user interface, transactions happen with multiple pay options, the product is delivered at their waist height so they do not have to bend down. The inner mechanism is not a spring based delivery system but a conveyer based system that can deliver multiple products in one order.
User interface and IoT integration
The touchscreen UI lets the user interact with ease, allows multiple product selection and payment with either of 3 modes (cash, apple pay and card). It not only intakes the customer orders but also stores customer selections, generates data about user preferences, most popular products etc. It is connected with a cloud storage system and intelligently keeps track of products to be refilled, and suggest offers and combos to the users.
