News

Tweeting vending machine informs on candy purchasers

April 24, 2014

A vending machine in the U.K. has been customized to tweet candy purchases by users, reports the AFP-Relaxnews newswire.

The customization was carried out by Nottingham Hackspace (Nottinghack), a voluntary group which provides facilities for members to meet and work on creative technical projects. The group is based in Nottingham, U.K.

For the experiment, a non-functional vending machine was purchased from eBay and fitted with an Arduino microcontroller, enabling it to communicate sales information with Nottinghack's server, AFP-Relaxnews said.

Use of the Arduino microcontroller is a particular interest among members of the Nottinghack group, which holds workshops on the subject. The vending machine stocks electronic parts as well as candy, and takes payments from prepaid Nottinghack member cards.

The group's server receives details of purchases by members and tweets them from its social media account, letting people know who has bought what.