Week TechVideo, 2011 #33 - Run away!... The poison machine is back

Don't get confused about the title... It's a private joke.

Maybe some of you remember this former TechVideo post, about Ricardo's Vending Machine v2.5.
Since then, Ricardo continued to work at an "improved" version of this, so called v3.0...
Not much different in terms of functions, but there was an intention to rebuild everything, now based in LEGO elements only or officially produced OEM elements, while replacing the old RCX also.

In the last months he has been in Gothenburg (Sweden) at an Erasmus, doing a very interesting graduation project at the industry in cooperation with TLG (but that's a topic for a later post). Short time before his last return to home base, Ricardo made a video featuring a kind of demo and explanation about the machine "features" to his mentor (Johan) from the graduation project.
It turned to be a quite genuine and funny video in raw format and without production, that he showed to me one night this summer. Hence I asked him for an YT upload to share here at TBs .

Ok!... Not everything working perfect at first try, but still more than enough to give us a good preview.
Maybe some time later Ricardo will produce a more formal presentation about the functions of his new vending machine, like he did for the previous version.


This new version includes:

• 1 NXT
• 7 Touch sensors (4 for the keypad)
• 1 Light sensor (NXT 1.0)
• 1 Color sensor (NXT 2.0)
• 1 Ultrasonic sensor
  
• 4 NXT servos
• 4 PF XL motors
• 1 PF M motor
• 1 RC motor (used in the air pump for the liquids dispenser)
• 6 PF lights

From HiTechnic we have:

• 1 Touch sensor mux
• 1 Sensor mux
• 1 IRLink

There is also one port splitter from mindsensors.com (likely to be removed in the next revision).


The whole contraption is programed using NXC.

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During his quest to finish the new VM version, Ricardo took the machine across several places (Lisbon, Billund, Stockholm, Zwölle, Gothenburg,...). It looks it hasn't been an easy task, regardless of the efforts put in applying proper cushioning to make it travel safe.
It's LEGO after all... It is made to be assembled and disassembled.

So it looks Ricardo had to rebuild it several times, while trying to improve the software functions further, at each new destination where the VM arrived. Always thinking it would be the last one and it would get ready...

But... Do you see the drops of one famous beverage, spread over the parts in the image at the right side?...
Yes, in one of its trips it looks there was an exploding can...