BDW Vending Machine

Good news, everyone! We have just "broken even" and paid off the machine! Future revenue will be used to increase and diversify our inventory and eventually lower our prices even more. What do YOU think we should start carrying?

Thanks everyone for your continued support. We have almost paid off the machine and everything in it!

Right now in the vending machine we have several WS2811 LED Strips. These strips each have 30 addressable RGB LEDs, which can be controlled with arduino, raspberry pi, ESP 8266, etc. See the link below for some cool ideas and instructions!

http://www.instructables.com/howto/ws2811/

Ws2811 Search Results Explore the Biggest How To and DIY community where people make and share inspiring, entertaining, and useful projects, recipes, and hacks.

Allow us to introduce you to one of our favorite apps. This app allows you to easily control and communicate with internet-connected boards such as Arduino (with ethernet/wifi shield/module), ESP 8266, and Raspberry Pi through your smartphone (iOS or Android). If you like Blynk, you can also check out an app called Cayenne.

Blynk Blynk is the low-code IoT platform: full-service infrastructure trusted by 5,000+ companies and 1M+ developers for over 10 years

Good news, everyone! We now have a few ESP8266 modules in the vending machine. The ESP8266 is one of the most poular IoT platforms. They can be programmed with the free Arduino IDE, they are pretty cheap ($4.5), and they include built in WiFi! These modules have a built-in USB connection to make programming them easy. We also added some Arduino Pro Mini (5V, 16MHz version), and soon we hope to carry the Arduino Mega.