How clever is a vending machine? Very

Now you’d expect us at UKVending to be proud and impressed by our excellent range of vending machines, but have you ever considered just how clever these machines are. Sure, they are handsome and useful in equal measure but clever too, absolutely.

Take for example how a vending machine knows exactly when people try to cheat it by feeding in fake or foreign coins. We’ve all been at a vending machine and putting in coins that for some reason are rejected and end up in the reject chute, why is this?

When you put a coin in the slot it first passes light sensors that measure its size then it passes by electromagnetics that detect the metal type. In this way and in split seconds the system has already identified the coin and whether it matches the ones it accepts. It will also sort the different denominations in separate columns and diverting any fake, foreign or damaged coins into the reject chute.

But the cleverness of the vending machine doesn’t end there. When change is due the columns carefully release one coin at a time before tumbling down the chute.

Another question we get asked a lot is how does the vending machine ensure you always get what you asked for?

More technology is the answer. Behind the keypad you used to make your selection the computer at the heart of all modern day vending machines send a signal to one of 32 matchbox sized motors to turn a spiral 360 degrees. In so doing it forces the products stored in the tray ahead of it forward towards the drop point. As the snack falls it breaks a line of infrared beams telling the computer that the item has been delivered. If the beam goes unbroken the computer senses this and turns the coils again to make sure the product has dropped successfully.