One of the fun things about Hardware Libre is that it allows us to make any gadget for little money, so we can have devices or machines that usually cost a lot of money and that are far from our pockets, for little money and in exchange for our labor or having the device in a reduced version.
This is the case of the project known as Venduino. A project that recreates a vending machine in a reduced version and using a board from the Arduino Project, in this case the famous Arduino UNO.
Venduino uses recycled materials for its construction
The builder of this unique project is called Ryan bates, a lover of Hardware Libre who not only saw the possibility of creating a vending machine but also of recycling materials. Venduino is a project that not only uses Arduino UNO and servo motors to function but also uses an old mobile screen and its keys to work, which makes the device interesting. Of course, its frame is created with cardboard and wood, so we can not use it as a normal vending machine, but we can have it in our homes as a toy at least curious.
The Venduino code as well as the rest of the components necessary for its construction have been published on the internet so anyone can not only build their Venduino machine but also can also improve it, offering improved or larger versions, without forgetting that with a little metal and ingenuity you can create a true vending machine, based of course on Venduino.
Far from building another toy, Venduino is an interesting project because you can save a lot of money in the vending machine industry, a business that is becoming more and more common and that handles a lot of money, more money than we think. And still, like it or not, we always have the option of creating a curious toy.