Team Gabriel Tashin Dheena Vending Machine Restocker:

•

Published February 12, 2025

Vending Machine Warehouse Speed Restocker

This will be a restocking system which can be restocked by alerting user when it is low or out of items to restock by playing a sound.

BeginnerShowcase (no instructions)10 hours115

Vending Machine Warehouse Speed Restocker

Things used in this project

Hardware components

M5Stack FIRE IoT Development Kit (PSRAM 2.0)

M5Stack Time-of-Flight (ToF) VL53L0X Laser Ranging Unit (MCP4725/)

Hand tools and fabrication machines

3 Minute Maid Orange Cans

2 Baskets (item collector, item restocker)

Story

Overview:

Singapore, with consistent effort and ambitious targets, hopes to achieve the “Zero Waste” target, which is to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfills each day by 30% by 2030. This target is featured in the Zero Waste Masterplan. However, Singapore is one of the biggest waste contributors in the world, with most wasted resources being dumped in landfills like Pulau Semakau. This is not sustainable as Pulau Semakau will run out of space for waste by 2035.

Driving Question:

How do we make warehouses more efficient with monitoring product stocking while reducing waste stock which is not sold in supermarkets?

Our Project:

Our Vending Machine Warehouse Restocker uses a TOF to monitor the amount of items in the restocker at any one time. It gathers the readings for the distance between the TOF and the items, the number of items left in the restocker, and how full the restocking basket is, so that the user can gather this data to restock the warehouse more efficiently and with less waste generated.

There is also a speaker system from the M5Stack added to this setup to play a sound to remind the user about the amount of items left in the restocker in a more meaningful way than just leaving text on the screen of the M5Stack.

When the distance between the TOF and the nearest item reaches a value of >75 and 120, the M5Stack will play a tone of Low A for 2 beats once every single time the restocker ends up in or changes to this stage.

When the distance between the TOF and the nearest item reaches a value of >120 and 185, the M5Stack will play a tone of Middle A for 1 beat once every single time the restocker ends up in or changes to this stage.

When the distance between the TOF and the nearest item reaches a value of >185, the M5Stack will play a tone of High A for 4 beats until the restocker is restocked every single time the restocker has no items left.

Displays on M5Stack:

Text(Distance from nearest item to TOF Sensor)

Text(Amount of items available for the restocker)

Text(Number of items remaining)

If distance is <75 or 75,

<75 or 75

Stock is Full

Number of items remaining: 3 (Drink cans are being used for the demo)

If distance between >75 and 120 inclusive,

76 - 120

Stock is Moderate

Number of items remaining: 2 (Drink cans are being used for the demo)

If distance between >120 and 185 inclusive,

>120 - 185

Stock is Low

Number of items remaining: 1 (Drink cans are being used for the demo)

If distance >185,

>185

0 items remaining (Drink cans are being used for the demo)

Please Restock

Prototype:

Youtube Demo Link:

Poster Summary:

Code

Main M5Stack Code

from m5stack import *
from m5ui import *
from uiflow import *
import time
import unit

setScreenColor(0x222222)
tof_1 = unit.get(unit.TOF, unit.PORTA)


Can1 = None
Can2 = None
Can3 = None
Detector1 = None



label0 = M5TextBox(22, 23, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0xFFFFFF, rotate=0)
label2 = M5TextBox(22, 131, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0xFFFFFF, rotate=0)
label1 = M5TextBox(22, 78, "Text", lcd.FONT_Default, 0xFFFFFF, rotate=0)




Can1 = 0
Can2 = 0
Can3 = 0
while True:
  Detector1 = tof_1.distance
  label0.setText(str(tof_1.distance))
  if Detector1 <= 75:
    label0.setText(str(tof_1.distance))
    label1.setText('Stock is Full')
    label2.setText('Cans Remaining: 3')
    rgb.setColorAll(0x3333ff)
    wait(1)
    Can1 = 0
    Can2 = 0
    Can3 = 0
  elif Detector1 > 75 and Detector1 <= 120:
    label0.setText(str(tof_1.distance))
    label1.setText('Stock is Moderate')
    label2.setText('Cans Remaining: 2')
    rgb.setColorAll(0x33ff33)
    if Can1 == 0:
      speaker.sing(220, 2)
      wait(3)
      Can1 = 1
      Can2 = 0
      Can3 = 0
  elif Detector1 > 120 and Detector1 <= 185:
    label0.setText(str(tof_1.distance))
    label1.setText('Stock is Low')
    label2.setText('Cans Remaining: 1')
    rgb.setColorAll(0xff9900)
    if Can2 == 0:
      speaker.sing(448, 1)
      wait(3)
      Can1 = 0
      Can2 = 1
      Can3 = 0
  elif Detector1 > 185:
    label0.setText(str(tof_1.distance))
    label1.setText('0 cans remaining')
    label2.setText('Please Restock')
    rgb.setColorAll(0xff0000)
    speaker.sing(889, 4)
  wait_ms(2)

Credits

GabrielPlusTen Niam

1 project • 0 followers

Contact

Vending Machine Warehouse Speed Restocker