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Group Design Project – B202

Product design video presentation



1. DESIGN REQUIREMENTS (35%)


Solar cell

Quantitative /numeric:
1) Solar cell = 1

Functional:
The solar cells that we see on calculators and satellites are photovoltaic cells or modules (modules are simply a group of cells electrically connected and packaged in one frame). Photovoltaic’s, as the word implies (photo = light, voltaic = electricity), convert sunlight directly into electricity. Once used almost exclusively in space, photovoltaic are used more and more in less exotic ways. They could even power the house.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently the most commonly used. Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed light is transferred to the semiconductor. The energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to flow freely. PV cells also all have one or more electric fields that act to force electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off to use externally. For example, the current can power a calculator. This current, together with the cell's voltage (which is a result of its built-in electric field or fields), defines the power (or wattage) that the solar cell can produce.

Performance:

Rated power : 125W
Module efficiency : 12.4%
Nominal voltage : 12V
Warranty 90% power output over 12 years
80% power output over 25 years
Free from defects in materials and workmanship for 5 years

Order if important reference:
High


Output tray

Quantitative /numeric:
1) Diffuse sensor =1
2) Robotic Arm =1
3) Servo motor =1
4) Driver- grap 2000 =1
5) Main controller circuit =1

Functional:
Diffuse sensor:
Diffuse sensor is one of the optical sensors where both receiver and transmitter mounted at the same place. When the receiver receives a transmitted light produces by the transmitter, it means that there is no object inside the tray but when the receiver does not receives any transmitted light produced by the transmitter, it means that there is an object exist in the tray where it blocked the light from transmitted to the receiver.
Robotic arm:
A robotic arm is a robot manipulator, usually programmable, with similar functions to a human arm. The links of such a manipulator are connected by joints allowing either rotational motion or translational displacement .When a customer select the product, this robotic arm will take the selected product and removed from its stored position without dropping the product, and carried to a delivery area or output tray.
Servo motor:
A servo motor act as a controllable joint and turn wheels, sensors, heads, arms, and much more
Driver:
Driver is software for the robotic arm to make a movement
Main Controller circuit:
Main controller circuit will give direction to the motor for the selected movement.

Order if important reference:
High



Display panel

Quantitative /numeric:
1) Limit switch = 35 (5 tray * 7 row)

Functional:
Limit switch will give a signal to the control unit once it has not been touched by any products at the tray (this is a signal showing that the product is running empty). The control unit will activate the logic code application and hence, a SMS will be send to the responsible person as to notify him that the product is running empty and he needs to take some actions.

Order if important reference:
Minimum



Battery

Quantitative /numeric:
1) Battery: 1

Functional:
AGM BATTERIES are sealed batteries that use "Absorbed Glass Mats", or AGM between the plates. These types of batteries are very rugged. Being maintenance free, AGM batteries are thus ideally suited for use in grid-tied solar power systems with battery back-up. Because they are completely sealed they can't be spilled, do not need periodic watering, and emit no corrosive fumes, the electrolyte will not stratify and no equalization charging is required. AGM's are also well suited to systems that get infrequent use as they typically have less than a 2% self discharge rate during transport and storage. They can also be transported easily and safely by air. Last, but not least, they can be mounted on their side or end and are extremely vibration resistant. AGM's come in most popular battery sizes and are even available in large 2 volt cells for the ultimate in low maintenance large system storage.

Order if important reference:
High


Control Panel

Weatherproof touch screen LCD panel
Quantitative /numeric:
1) LCD = 1

Functional:
Provide a user interface by displaying item/product price and receiving input from user when the product selection is made

Order if important reference:
High

Coins validator
Quantitative /numeric:
1) Diffuse sensor for coins stack = 5

Functional:
Give option for user to pay with coins (eg: 5p,10p,20p,50,£1,£2)

Order if important reference:
High

Notes validator
Quantitative /numeric:
1) Diffuse sensor for notes stack = 1

Functional:
Give option for user to pay with bank notes (eg: £5,£10,£20) .Balance return available but in coins only

Order if important reference:
High

Balance return slot
Quantitative /numeric:
1) Hopper (balance return slot) = 1

Functional:
Provide an output slot for balance return if any (in coins)

Order if important reference:
High


Architecture Design
Quantitative /numeric:
Dimension and Weight
Height: 1.9m
Width : 1m
Depth : 1m
Weight: approximately 100kg (nett empty)

Functional:
The purpose of having it big is because to make sure that we are able to fit various selling products into one vending machine and also to store as many product as we could so that the responsible person does not has to frequently come to refill the product. For the weight, the purpose of making it heavy is because we want to make sure that this machine will not be easily remove by any unrelated person (i.e. thief, vandal).

Order if important reference:
High


2. DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS (35%)


i) SYSTEM PLANS


We are planning to include 6 different systems into our machine. There are
1. Power generating & storing system

2. User interface system

3. Robotic arm system

4. SMS notification system

5. Product availability system

6. Security system



ii) ARCHITECTURE PLANS


Below is the existing solar-powered vending machine that available in the market.
Existing Solar-Powered Vending Machine

From the existing machine that we can found in the market as displayed above, we enhance it to make it better in every aspect (i.e. power storage aspect, machine features aspect etc.). Below are the layout diagrams of our proposed machine.
3D view
Product 3 Dimensional View

Front View
Product front view

Solar cell placement
By looking at those 2 machines (existing machine and proposed machine), we can see that the placement of the solar cell is still the same (at the top). This is because, we believe that by placing the solar cell at the top, it able to absorb more sunlight.

Outer casing
We decided that our solar-powered vending machine must use a weather proof body. So, we choose PVCU (Polyvinyl Chloride Un-plasticised) as from the research, it prove that it is fit for the machine as the element of the PVCU,
1. Not rot or biologically decompose
2. Resistant to weathering
3. Low maintenance requirements
4. Tough on impact
5. Retain its shape within normal climatic temperatures
6. Can be reshaped at very high temperature
7. Can be recycled
8. Cheap
9. Durable

Machine size
The purpose of having it big is because to make sure that we are able to fit various selling products into one vending machine and also to store as many product as we could so that the responsible person does not has to frequently come to refill the product.

Machine weight
Weight : approximately 100kg (nett empty)
The purpose of making it heavy is because we want to make sure that this machine will not be easily remove by any unrelated person (i.e. thief, vandal).


iii) SOFTWARE MODULES


In order to make our machine become much different from existing ones, we added a few features such as LCD touch screen and SMS notification for supplier / owner. These features involve the using of specific software to make it works.

Visual Basic
-We decided to use Visual Basic as the main development software to interface the program and hardware (LCD touch screen, robotic arm, output tray motor, money acceptor). Hence, we also need to install a mini computer (Windows based) inside the machine in order to work with Visual Basic. A GUI need to be designed in Visual Basic such that it would be appearing as a user interface at the LCD touch screen. The software take the input from LCD panel (touched by user) and give a output signal to the robotic arm to perform it task depending on each one’s programming scheme. Visual Basic also will take the input signal from money acceptor in order to display the current amount of money inserted by the user. Apart from that, by using the software we also going to make the screen display short videos at the GUI for advertisement purpose during the idle mode.

Logiccode GSM SMS ActiveX
-As for the SMS notification feature, we need to use this software which is work together with Visual Basic as it main platform. Basically, this software is used to read or delete SMS, send WAP Push and send text messages in English or Unicode supported languages using GSM modems or mobile phones connected to serial port by data cable, Bluetooth or IR. In this case, we are going to use a small GSM modem with serial data cable which will be connected to the mini computer. The software will make the modem send a notification text message to the owner / supplier if the selling product number is running out, the money stacks (at the money acceptor) is almost full and when emergency alarm is activated. This will happen when the respective sensors are triggered by the stated conditions and Visual Basic will take them as input signals and responding by making the modem send the message right away.


iv) DRAWING AND CHARTS


Below is the general working principle flowchart that shows overall step by step procedure that happens inside the machine
Overall flowchart

Below is the flowchart on how solar cell and battery works on our project
Solar Cell and Battery Flowchart

Below is the flowchart that shows how robotic arm works on our project
Robotic Arm Flowchart

Below is the flowchart on SMS works on our project
SMS Flowchart


v) SYSTEM INTEGRATION


Below are the various systems that appears to have in our machine.
System Integration


vi) USER INTERFACES


For our vending machine, we going to use a little bit different user interfaces compared to existing vending machines. Basically, our machine interracts with users through 4 main features:

1) Product display
- We use a large clear PVCu panel (which covers most of the front face of the machine) to make the selling products are visible to users before they want to purchase. This panel are non-pastic and non-glass material which is tough and flexible to be used outdoor and it also proven as weatherproof as it has been used for existing solar vending machines. We still want to keep this method of displaying product as it shows the real products and their availability through the clear panel to ensure the user that he/she get exactly what he/she see.

2) LCD touch screen
- We choose the 8.4" All-Weather VT084XA weatherproof LCD touch screen to be installed at the front face of the machine as a user interface. The touch screen provides an interractive user interface for user to select a desired product to purchase. Unlike other vending machines, a virtual keypad will be displayed at the screen when a sufficient credit is provided by the user. The user can select product by pressing the keypad according to the coordinate of the product (combination of a letter and a number, just like typical vending machine. eg: D5 ). During an idle mode where the machine is not being used for a period of time (which can be set according to the owner), the LCD screen alternately will display preloaded advertisement videos one at a time. The video will be cleared when a user want to buy something from the machine by simply touching the screen.

3) Money acceptor / balance return
- For this feature, we going to use 2 types of money acceptors; coin and bill validators. With this, users will be always have an option either to pay with coins or bills during the product purchasing. This feature works just like in ticket machines that widely use at the cinemas and train stations. If user selects a product which the price is lower than the money he/she have inserted, the machine will return the balance in coins. However, we just make the machine accept at most £20 notes for UK rergion (applies for other regions with similar scale) for user convinence.

4) Product dispenser
- There are 2 main components involve in this feature; the robotic arm and output tray. Both components have their own driver board ( which controls their movements since they use electronic motors ) attached to the main board. The robotic arm is used to pick selected product that is chosen by user using the touch screen an put it into the output tray. It has an embedded chip that become a microcontroller which is programmed to pick a product at specific coordinate and put it to one specific place. There is also an optical sensor at the output tray to indicate that a product is there and ready to be dispensed to the user. Once the sensor detect the product, it will trigger the motor at the output tray to rotate such that the output tray will be opened for user to take the product.

3. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS (30%)



1)New Companies, Product, Technology or legislation

Could the product sell?

This solar powered vending machine is one of the most quality vending machine nowadays. The ideas are to vend the products without a cashier and without power electricity. Unlike other types of vending machine, this machine does not need a direct power from main socket to operate. Hence, it can be placed far away from any building, as long as it could reach the sunlight. By using the solar power to operate the machine, it will reduce the domestic electrical energy usage by using other alternative power source. This solar powered vending machine can also save most of your money every time you get your power bill. Moreover, we also can reduce the energy usage which comes from the mains(plant) and at the mean time we can also save space and can buy items anytime(day and night). We are dedicated to helping the independent vending machine owner operator gain huge success in industry. Our solar powered vending machine business opportunities exist almost anywhere for entrepreneurs to make excellent money without spending a lot of time.
Furthermore, one of the most important aspects that we focus is on the location to place our solar powered vending machine. Then we can target our market and generate the greatest amount of profit. Beach is the most suitable place that we might think of putting this machine at because people will definitely buy some drinks or snacks after spending couple of hours playing beach volleyball, surfing or even swimming. It is convenient to have this machine close to the beach as people will easily go and buy the items wanted rather than place it far from the beach.

If we look at the Asian Middle East country, almost every part of the countries is covers with dessert. It is difficult to get electricity source directly from the mains. So, that is why this machine is perfect for them as the problem of having difficulties to get electricity source can be eliminate. Furthermore, Asian countries have no problem to receive enough sunlight as it situated at a portion of the world that able to receive enough sunlight every day. Summarize of this product is there will be lots of benefit that will gain from the customer by using this solar powered vending machine because everyone can use this product at anytime and anywhere. Hence, we will make sure that our product can be sold and we can gain great amount of profit from it.

Future Development
Nowadays, a vending machine have been well known as a machine that provides various snack, beverages, and other products to consumers without a cashier. Items sold via vending machines vary by country and region. A common vending machine usually do not have multipurpose items can be sold in one vending machine. These vending machines also rely on power socket to operate the machine.

future development

2. Examining the Weaknesses of Existing Products or Companies

Will the market need our solar-cell vending machines?

As our research, we found that the demand of using new energy is more and more necessary. As recent decades, the ever- increasing number of environmental disasters make all people have to rethink about their life. As all of the research and reports, one reason of the increasing heat of the earth and the change of climate in all continents come from the exhausted sources and our bad habit of using energy. However, the human beings realize the essential role of energy. Hence, people prefer the friendly-to-environment power. As the result, we do believe that our products will receive a huge support from citizens.
In fact, there are more and more products using the solar cell as the source of power such as the new calculators or radio for the personal purposes and space probes, water pumping application, or Earth-orbiting satellites for the researching purposes. Another famous example of robot using the solar cell is “Roving Mars” for the purpose of exploding Mars, and the robot brought us the valuable result. Indeed, the advantage of using solar cell is the mobility. For some cases, we cannot finish our mission without the solar cell.
Meanwhile, almost all of the vending machines now in the world still use the electricity as the main source of working. People still do not have the habit of using the kind of energy. However, we think that it is our chance in this field is quite huge because the market is still not fixed.
But in the near future, all of the normal machines will be replaced by ours because of human beings’ increasing demands.

Comparison to Existing Products:

There are some products on the market that also use the solar cell as the power source. In this part, we will also compare our products with some of the existing products in our main purposes.

Saving the energy and the maintaining cost:

The large solar cell on the top of vending machines will save the electrical energy. Hence, when comparing to a normal vending machines, our product has big advantages because it really not only the new friendly -environment energy source, but also save a big amount of money. In fact, may be one machine can only save a little amount, but with a system of vending machines with hundreds of products, the maintaining cost and electricity bills are not little, and our machines, hence, cannot be beat in price because of huge amount of money has been saved every year.

Mobility
Another advantage of our products is the mobility. Indeed, using solar energy can make our machines work in many different areas. Compared to many other normal vending machines, we can found that the idea of motility is so important. The normal vending machine sometimes cannot be placed in beaches or parks because of no electric source. However, our new vending machine will be useful in many places such as beach, public places such as parks, schools or even deserts. Indeed, the solar energy can bring the mobility for nearly all products using it because we can get the solar energy everywhere. For instance, there are also many products that have the same aim also use the same kind of energy such as Earth-orbiting satellites and space probes, remote radiotelephones and water pumping applications.

The comfortable element

One of the important elements comes from customer, we want our products make all customers feel comfortable when use them. Hence, we put a small LCD screen on the vending machines. It will make all customers feel better and easier when choosing items. Moreover, we also put a speaker for all blind people.
Compared to a normal vending machine, we think that this is a big difference when the normal vending machine often does not have it. In our opinion, the element is every important because it is a public machines. So our task is that making all people can use it easily.

3. Knowledge of customers/ users:
Before researching to develop our product, we realize that our customers will be different to the end user.
Our customers:
We think that the target customer will be big companies, but not personal cases. In fact, our products are for public use, but not only one. Apparently, there will be no one who will buy a vending machine to use at their house. Hence, I think that we will pay attention more to the companies. There are many kinds of companies who will be interesting in our products, but we will temporary class them by two.
The first kind is the big companies having products or manufacturers, and they want to expand their market in the public places such as Coke or Pepsi. Even the retailed-market is not always one of the best ways to invest with the big companies, and it is a good chance of advertise to them. So, when comparing between vending machines and building and maintaining a small shop to sell their only one product, we think that the first one will be their choice.
The other kinds of companies are those who pay more attention to the retailed-market. They do not have any products, but they sell many kinds of products and get the profit between the buying and selling prices. In fact, the business kind can include big companies or only some small groups of people who invest together in only one shop. Actually, in the second kinds, they also have shops, but they still want to invest more by using vending machines.
However, the both two kinds only have a same purpose that is profit, including reducing the maintaining prices and the first- time amount of money invested. All of these are also our purposes. Obviously, maintaining vending machines will be much cheaper than a shop, including the fee for renting the house, the fee for vendors, etc. Our product has the big advantages compared to shops, especially to the first kind of companies. Besides, we also have good securities, we think that it is a point that all of our customers also have to consider because all of the vending machines will be placed in the public places. Hence, security is always an important element, because no investors want to pay more money to repair the damaged products. Meanwhile, compared to the other normal vending machines, our product does not need the electrical source. Moreover, our product uses the green power. In the development period today, people pay more and more attention to the environment. They prefer the friendly – to –environments products. Hence, we think that our products will receive the much supporting from the public. Finally, with all of the advantages, we do believe that our products will be a good choice with all of the companies.
Our end users:
We found that our end users will be all kind of people, because our products are for public use. Hence, to make our products increase the competitive element, our purpose is make the vending machine is so friendly to user. Instead of using buttons to control, we have a LCD, and that is a touch screen. All things will appear on the screen, the users will find there wanted product easily. Moreover, with the screen, the user can control all what they want. The screen wills not only help the user fell easier to use the machines, but it also make them more so interesting in our products because of our designs. For example, they can change the product by changing product before confirming them. Or they also can know exactly, they amount of money they put on the vending machines and the changes for them.Moreover, the output tray is automatic will help the customers easily to get their items. Besides, we also put a speaker to help the blind people. After all, we think that user will be comfortable when using our products.
In conclusion, we found that even our customers and the end users are different but they have a close relationship because the end user will be the customers of our products buyers. Obviously, one of the most priority elements with our customers is profit, but the feedbacks from the end users will also be an important element that investors have to consider.


4.Knowledge of geography regions:

One of our main purposes is the mobility element. Hence, we always have to pay attention to the geography regions of the products.
At the first time, we choose the tropical countries such as the ones in the South East Asia or dry areas such as Egypt or Arab Saudi.
In southwest Asian, the climate is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year round. There is a lot of rainfall. Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon. The shinning period is not really different between the summer and winter. Besides, there are many large beaches in the countries. And they are developing countries, the competition, hence, is not as hard as that in the developed countries. Besides, in the dry areas such as Asian Middle East countries, the time of shining is fixed with the high intensity. It is a good condition for our product work well. Besides, there are a lot of landscapes there. We think that with the huge number of visitors in the places, our products can have good opportunities in the places.
We think that the two kinds of area will always be the first choice to invest.

After that, we think that we will have to expand our market in the Europe. The continent has a variety of climates, but most of the continent has mild weather. But the shining time of the countries are so different between the seasons. For example, in the UK there will be more than 12 hours of shinning a day in the summer, with the high intensity and the shining time, our products can work well in the period. However, in the winter, the shinning time is only 6 to 8 a day with a so weak light. Moreover, in some bad weather such as mist, raining for a long time or snowing, we think that our products will do not have enough energy to cover the work of machines. But we also put a battery on the machines. As our research, we found that even for one day of weak light energy, our machines can still work well. However, in the case of snowing, the snow will cover all of our solar cell and it cannot get energy from light at that time. Hence, we think that our product can work well in the summer, but in the winter, it will be depend on the local weather at those places.

Steps in the development of the presentation
1) We divide our task into three which is design requirement, design specification and business opportunity analysis.
2) Then we separate this to each of our group member. This will make our works easier.
3) After we finished these three tasks, we try to summarize each of it because after done the report of design requirement, design specification and business opportunity analysis we will think about how to write a script.
4) Next, we start writing a script and summarize all the report that we have done because the contents of the script must be include all that we have wrote about design requirement, design specification and business opportunity analysis.
5) Then we discuss about what scene we should put to give an example of situation where the customer will use this solar powered vending machine. After done the discussion, we decided to choose two locations which are beach and park to do the shooting.
6) Lastly, after the report and the script have done, we start our presentation recording. One of our group members (Noor Ima Maizura) will speak during this presentation recording.

Rehearsals for the presentation recording
We have made our rehearsals two times to make the video be simpler and be more specific. The rehearsals been done in the library by using the discussion room (1st floor) in the library.

1st rehearsals: 4th May 2009(morning)
2nd rehearsals: 4th May 2009.(afternoon)

1st rehearsals: our information that been put through the video presentation is not been include. Then we decide to put and search the part that should be including in the video.

2nd rehearsals: this time the video been more successful, all the information that should be including in the video had been check. The problem that we get is the length of the video is a little bit long, and we managed to cut a little bit scenes so the presentation not been long.


(6) Schedule presentation recording
Our schedule have been started by a week before the time of the deadline (from 27 April to 4 May 2009)
On the 27th April,
All members come to discuss to have the final agreement of the projects and we also get the agreements of the schedule of the presentation.
On the 28th April,
Building the general form of the video presentation together
- What is the procedure of our work?
Firstly, we will discuss about the main ideas of the presentation.
After that, we will specify the details for what we will say.
After getting the agreement of all members, we will segregate task to each team member.
After all members finish their writing works, we will put them together and review it.
Depending on the final writing report, we will write the script and
Finally, we will the video. After that, we will repair and check the video again.
- What will we say in the video?
We divided our presentation into three main parts: Design requirements, Design specifications and Business opportunities analysis.
- How long will the video be?
It will be nearly 20 min. Hence, we have to fix the script how to match the 2- min of the video presentation.
On the 29th April,
Specifying the details all of parts we need to analysis:
In the Design requirements part, we list all of the specifications: quantitative, functional and precise.
In the Design specifications, we follow the 6 parts: systems plans, architecture plans, software modules, drawing and charts, system integrations and users interface.
In the business opportunities analysis, there will be 4 parts:
 New Companies, Product, Technology or legislation
 Examining the Weaknesses of Existing Products or Companies
 Knowledge of customers/ users
 Knowledge of geography regions
We segregate tasks to each team member.
On 1st May,
Combining our work together and rechecking it
On 2 May,
Having the final discuss about the video development (dividing the screen, other video we will put on the presentations)
Starting to write the script based on the final report.
On 3rd May,
Rechecking the script finally
Do the recording, and repairing some screens.
On 4th May,
Rechecking the video last time
Submitting

(7) Agreed methods of communications

We come to an agreement of the final form of the report. There will be into three main parts: Design requirements, Design specifications and Business opportunities analysis.
1. In the Design requirements part, we list all of the specifications: quantitative, functional and precise.
We pay attention to all of the materials of our products, including Solar cell, Output tray, Display panel, Battery, Control Panel and Architecture Design.
2. In the Design specifications, we follow the 6 parts: systems plans, architecture plans, software modules, drawing and charts, system integrations and users interface.
In systems plans, we are planning to include 6 different systems into our machine: Power generating & storing system, User interface system, Robotic arm system, SMS notification system, Product availability system and Security system.
In architecture plans, we are about the specifications of Solar cell placement, Outer casing,
Machine size and Machine weight.
In the software modules, because we added a few features such as LCD touch screen and SMS notification for supplier / owner, these features involve the using of specific software to make it works.
In the drawing and charts, we will use principle flowchart that shows overall step by step procedure that happens inside the machine, how solar cell and battery works on our project , shows how robotic arm works on our project and the flowchart on SMS works on our project,
In the system integrations, we use the chart to show the various systems that appears to have in our machine.
In the users interface, we care about the 4 features: Product display, LCD touch screen, Money acceptor / balance return and Product dispenser
3. In the business opportunities analysis, there will be 4 parts: New Companies, Product, Technology or legislation, Examining the Weaknesses of Existing Products or Companies, Knowledge of customers/ users, Knowledge of geography regions.
In the New Companies, Product, Technology or legislation, we will answer the two questions: “Could the product sell?” and “Its Future Development”.
In the Examining the Weaknesses of Existing Products or Companies, we will follow the questions: Will the market need our solar-cell vending machines? And Comparison to Existing Products in the elements: Saving the energy and the maintaining cost, Mobility and The comfortable element.
In the Knowledge of customers/ users, we will analyse our customers and our users, as well as their equipments.
In the Knowledge of geography regions, we realize the area (geography and weather conditions) that our products can be placed.

(8) Agreed methods of work planning and tracking

We come to an agreement of the video presentations. We will divide the presentations into 6 scenes.
Scene 1 : Scene with a question fade and dim and follow by a short acting which redress the current problem facing (Noor Ima, Marzuki, Syed Zaki & Masdeana)
Problem 1 : @ beach - difficult to get a vending machine near the beach (need to go a bit far just to by a drink to quench their thirst and to buy a lotion to avoid sunburn)
Problem 2 : while jogging - find difficult to get a vending machine along the road also to quench their thirst
Problem 3 : @ park - find difficult to get a vending machine to buy tissue, snacks and drinks
Scene 2 : Scene with 1 people talk (Introduction - tells that there is a solution for the problems address before and briefly explain about the proposed solution [our product]) (Noor Ima)
Scene 3 : Scene with 1 people talk (content of a talk is about those 3 components that can be found in the Video Presentation section). Also, we include picture while talking (Noor Ima)
Scene 4 : Scene that shows a person who has used the product before tells something good about the product (Rakan act as a soldier and tells that he has used the machine before back in his country and it gives a lot of benefit for them - his country majority covers with a desert and it is difficult to place a vending machine which requires power from the main socket)
Scene 5 : Scene with 1 people talk (conclusion) (Noor Ima)
Scene 6 : Credits




4. SCRIPT


Script

Design requirement

For design requirement, we have divided to seven part for our solar powered vending machine product which are solar cell, output tray, display panel, battery, control panel and architecture design. For further explanations, we will summarize each of the seven parts with the components inside. Firstly is about the solar cell. We used one solar cell in this solar powered vending machine in orders to convert sunlight directly to electricity to replace power socket.

The second one is output tray which has one diffuse sensor to be functioned as one of the optical sensors where both receiver and transmitter mounted at the same place. When the receiver receives a transmitted light produces by the transmitter, it means that there is no object inside the tray but when the receiver does not receives any transmitted light produced by the transmitter, it means that there is an object exist in the tray where it blocked the light from transmitted to the receiver. We also have one robotic arm as a robot manipulator and programmable with similar function of human arm. When a customer selects the product, this robotic arm will take the selected product and removed from its stored position without dropping the product, and carried to a delivery area or output tray. Meanwhile, we also used one servo motor to act as controllable joint and turn wheels, sensors, heads, arms, and much more. Then we have one driver to make sure the robot will make a movement and one main controller circuit to give direction to the motor for make a movement.

For the third part is display panel. We have 35 limit switch to give a signal to the control unit once it has not been touched by any products at the tray (this is a signal showing that the product is running empty) and control unit will activate the logic code application and hence, a SMS will be send to the responsible person as to notify him that the product is running empty and he needs to take some actions.

For the battery, we used AGM battery because this type of battery is very rugged and it can store energy for customer usage at night or when there is no sunlight. This means that customer still can use this solar powered vending machine at night or anytime they want. A control panel have four components inside it which are weatherproof touch screen LCD panel, coins validator, notes validator and balance return slot. For weatherproof touch screen LCD panel, we have one LCD and the function is to provide a user interface by displaying item/product price and receiving input from user when the product selection is made. Then, for a coins validator, it has one diffuse sensor for coins stack in order to give option for user to pay with coins (eg: 5p,10p,20p,50,£1,£2). A notes validator has one diffuse sensor at notes stack to give an option for user to pay with bank notes (eg: £5,£10,£20) and balance return available but in coins only. Lastly for the control panel part is balance return slot which has one hopper. This hopper will be functioned as an output slot for balance return if any (in coins).

Next is an architecture design part which has five quantitative. They are height (1.9m), width (1m),depth(1m) and weight approximately 100 kg( Nett empty). The purpose of having it big is because to make sure that we are able to fit various selling products into one vending machine and also to store as many product as we could so that the responsible person does not has to frequently come to refill the product. For the weight, the purpose of making it heavy is because we want to make sure that this machine will not be easily remove by any unrelated person (i.e. thief, vandal).

Design specifications
We will divide the specification part in to 6 steps of our procedure: Systems plans, architecture plans, software modules, drawing and chart and user interfaces.
1. Systems plans: In our vending machines, we are planning to use 6 different systems to operate all purposes. In this part, we will say about all of the 6 systems as well as their functions.

Power generating & storing system . Like what we have mentioned before, we are getting the power which needs to deliver to the machine from the solar cell. Also, the power that we obtain from the solar cell will be stored in the battery as well.
User interface system. We choose to have a slightly different user interface than the normal vending machine has. What we mean here is that we are using touch screen in order to interact with the user as we believe that it is more user friendly and sophisticated.

Robotic arm system. Robotic arm mounted on a vending machine is something that is new to all of us. Why we choose to have a robotic arm is because we think that it will bring the desired item to the output tray in a proper manner (where the normal vending machine only use a gravity to make the desired item go to the output tray).

SMS notification system. We believe by having this system, it will make us easier as it able to notify us when the product running empty, when the coin that used as a change running empty and when something not good (vandal or people trying to open the door without permission) to the machine.

Product availability system. As mentioned before in the point number 4, we can easily know when the exact product displayed in the display panel running is empty. This is just by placing a sensor at every row in the tray. As the sensor gives a high signal to the control unit, which means it is a signal to add the item in the product display.
Security system

2. Architecture plans:
Out product has been built on the ideas of the normal vending machines.
Our machines will have 4 elements: Solar cell placement, Outer casing, Machine size
and Machine weight.

Firstly, the solar cell is placed on the top of the vending machines, because we think that by placing the solar cell at the top, it able to absorb more sunlight. Moreover, we also put the solar cell inclining. It means that we will get more solar energy because of the larger surface of solar cell.
The second element is the Outer casing. We decided that our solar-powered vending machine must use a weather proof body. So, we choose PVCU (Polyvinyl Chloride Un-plasticised) .we think that PVCU will be a good choice because of the reasons: Not rot or biologically decompose, Resistant to weathering, Low maintenance requirements, Tough on impact, Retain its shape within normal climatic temperatures, Can be reshaped at very high temperature, Can be recycled, Cheap and Durable
Another element is Machine size. The purpose of having it big is because to make sure that we are able to fit various selling products into one vending machine and also to store as many product as we could so that the responsible person does not has to frequently come to refill the product.

Finally, we care about the machines weight. I calculated that the weight of the machines will be approximately 100kg (net empty). We will do it quite heavy because we want to make sure that this machine will not be easily remove by any unrelated person (i.e. thief, vandal).

6.User interfaces
For our vending machine, we going to use a little bit different user interfaces compared to existing vending machines. Basically, our machine interacts with users through 4 main features:
Product display . We use a large clear PVCu panel (which covers most of the front face of the machine) to make the selling products are visible to users before they want to purchase. This panel are non-plastic and non-glass material which is tough and flexible to be used outdoor and it also proven as weatherproof as it has been used for existing solar vending machines.
LCD touch screen. We choose the 8.4" All-Weather VT084XA weatherproof LCD touch screen to be installed at the front face of the machine as a user interface. The touch screen provides an interactive user interface for user to select a desired product to purchase. Unlike other vending machines, a virtual keypad will be displayed at the screen when a sufficient credit is provided by the user. During an idle mode where the machine is not being used for a period of time (which can be set according to the owner), the LCD screen alternately will display preloaded advertisement videos one at a time. The video will be cleared when a user want to buy something from the machine by simply touching the screen.
Money acceptor / balance return. For this feature, we going to use 2 types of money acceptors; coin and bill validators. With this, users will always have an option either to pay with coins or bills during the product purchasing. This feature works just like in ticket machines that widely use at the cinemas and train stations. If user selects a product which the price is lower than the money he/she have inserted, the machine will return the balance in coins.
Product dispenser. There are 2 main components involve in this feature; the robotic arm and output tray. Both components have their own driver board ( which controls their movements since they use electronic motors ) attached to the main board. The robotic arm is used to pick selected product that is chosen by user using the touch screen and put it into the output tray. It has an embedded chip that becomes a microcontroller which is programmed to pick a product at specific coordinate and put it to one specific place. There is also an optical sensor at the output tray to indicate that a product is there and ready to be dispensed to the user. Once the sensors detect the product, it will trigger the motor at the output tray to rotate such that the output tray will be opened for user to take the product.

In the final part, we would like to say about the Business opportunity analysis of our products. [30 marks]

Study of New Companies, Products and Legislation

The first question will always be made for all inventors, manufacturers and investors is that ” Could we can sell the Product?”
And our answer is “yes”. The reason for our answer comes from the development in technology and our real purpose of saving energy and money.
As we know, this solar powered vending machine is one of the most quality ones nowadays. Like other normal vending machines, the main advantage of vending machine is that the machines provide various snacks, beverages, and other products to consumers without a cashier. It means that the seller can save a lot of money for labour and rent. However, unlike other types of vending machine, our new vending machines do not need a direct power from main socket to operate. Hence, our products will be more mobility and economics. Indeed, it can be placed far away from any building, as long as it could reach the sunlight. If we look at the Asian Middle East country, almost every part of the countries is covers with deserts. Let choose Egypt as an example, there are a lot of beautiful landscapes there and they are interesting millions of visitors annually. But almost all landscape is often on dry areas and quite far from the big cities. Obviously, it is difficult to get electricity source directly from the mains, or even we can get electric power from near cities, it still wastes a lot of money to maintain.
Moreover, by using the solar power to operate the machine, it will reduce the domestic electrical energy usage by using other alternative power source. As the result, this solar powered vending machine can also save a huge amount of money every year for the electric bill. We also can reduce the energy usage which comes from the mains (plant) and at the mean time we can also save space and can buy items anytime (day and night). We are dedicated to helping the independent vending machine owner operator gain huge success in industry. Our solar powered vending machine business opportunities exist almost anywhere for entrepreneurs to make excellent money without spending a lot of time.
Furthermore, one of the most important aspects that we focus on is the location to place our solar powered vending machine. Then we can target our market and generate the greatest amount of profit. As our research, we pay more attention on the public places where there are we always have a good average number of customer. One of the vivid examples is beaches. Beaches are the most suitable place that we might think of putting this machine at because of the two reasons. Firstly, our machines always can get enough solar energy for their operations. Secondly, people often have to buy drinks or snacks after spending couple of hours playing on beaches.
So, that is reason why we do believe that our machines have a bright prospect compared to all of the other normal vending machine in the market.


Future Development

It can be seen that the success is the repeat and development of the previous products. Similarly, depending on the weakness of the previous and other products, we changed and upgraded it to have our current products.
In fact, the most common kind of vending machines that we can see in many places now have to depend on socket, they often just sell only one kind of item and have gravity depend output tray. We can see the inconveniences of installation this vending machine, it can only be placed in the limited areas because it require sockets. To solve the problems, some ordinary solar power vending machines have also been created, it now uses the solar cell and it, as the result, can be placed in many places. But it still only sells one kind of item and has gravity depend output tray.
To solve all of the problems, our products have developed by using the AGM battery ( ). We can sell many kinds of item but our machines still make users feel easy to control because of the touch- screen LCD added. Implement robot arms to grab the desired items and place it in the output tray. Besides, we added a security system, and use and SMS to improve the securities ability of the machines. We think that we solve big problems as well as add more functions compared to the ordinary solar power vending machines.
In the future, depending on the problems of our current products such as the limitations of the installation areas, our machines cannot work well in the Europe in the winter because of the light intensity and snow. Hence, we think that we will add one more source instead of only one solar power. It can be a small windmill to get a more energy from the wind power.


Examining the Weaknesses of Existing Products or Companies

Will the market need our solar-cell vending machines? Is there any gap in the market for our products?
Yes, we do believe that the market will need our products, and they will be a big competitor in the vending machines markets.
Firstly, it is the environmental element. We always consider the environmental element as an important point to develop our products. As our research, we found that the demand of using new energy is more and more necessary. As recent decades, the ever- increasing number of environmental disasters make all people have to rethink about their life. As we know, the result is the increasing heat of the earth and the change of climate in all continents that come from the exhausted sources and our bad habit of using energy. However, the human beings have realized the essential role of energy in the recent decades. Hence, people prefer the friendly-to-environment power. So, we do believe that our products will receive a huge support from citizens.
In fact, there are more and more products using the solar cell as the source of power such as the new calculators or radio for the personal purposes and space probes, water pumping application, or Earth-orbiting satellites for the researching purposes.
Meanwhile, there is a gap in the vending-machine market. Almost all of the vending machines now in the world still use the electricity as the main power source because people still do not have the habit of using the new kind of energy. However, we think that it is our chance in this field as well since the market is so huge and our products have the real advantages compared to normal ones.
But in the near future, we believe that all of the normal machines will be replaced by ours because of the human beings’ increasing demands.


Comparison to Existing Products:

There are some products on the market that also use the solar cell as the power source. In this part, we will also compare our products with some of the existing products in the three main elements: Saving the energy and the maintaining cost, Mobility and The comfortable element

Saving the energy and the maintaining cost:

The large solar cell on the top of vending machines will save the electrical energy. Hence, when comparing to a normal vending machines, our product has big advantages because it really not only the new friendly -environment energy source, but also save a big amount of money. In fact, may be one machine can only save a little amount, but with a system of vending machines with hundreds of products, the maintaining cost and electricity bills are not little, and our machines, hence, cannot be beat in price because of huge amount of money has been saved every year.
Mobility
Another advantage of our products is the mobility. Indeed, using solar energy can make our machines work in many different areas. Compared to many other normal vending machines, we can found that the idea of motility is so important. The normal vending machine sometimes cannot be placed in beaches or parks because of no electric source. However, our new vending machine will be useful in many places such as beach, public places such as parks, schools or even deserts. Indeed, the solar energy can bring the mobility for nearly all products using it because we can get the solar energy everywhere.
The comfortable element

One of the important elements comes from customer, we want our products make all customers feel comfortable and easy when use them. Hence, we put a small LCD screen on the vending machines. It will make all customers feel better and easier when choosing items. Moreover, we also put a speaker for all blind people. Compared to a normal vending machine, we think that this is a big difference when the normal vending machine often does not have it. In our opinion, the element is every important because it is a public machines. So our task is that making all people can use it easily.

Knowledge of customers/ users:
Before researching to develop our product, we realize that our real customers who will buy our products will be different to the end user.
Our customers:
We think that the target customer will be big companies, but not personal cases. There are many kinds of companies who will be interesting in our products, but we class them by two.
The first kind is the big manufacturers having their own products such as Coke or Pepsi. Because their number of products ‘types are small, we think that their first choice will be vending machines, but not maintaining a small shop to sell their only one product.
The other kinds of companies are those who pay more attention to the retailed-market. They do not have any products, but they sell many kinds of products and get the profit between the buying and selling prices. Actually, in the second kinds, they also have shops, but they still want to save more money by using vending machines.
However, their most priority is profit, including reducing the maintaining prices and the first- time amount of invested money. Our product has the big advantages compared to shops. Besides, we found that all of our customers always care about the security system because the products will be at the public places. Hence, our security systems have been improved. Meanwhile, compared to the other normal vending machines, our product does not need the electrical source. Moreover, our product uses the green power. Today, people pay more attention to the environment. They prefer the friendly – to –environments products. Hence, we think that our products will receive the much supporting from the public. Finally, with all of the advantages, we do believe that our products will be a good choice with all of the companies.
Our end users:
We found that our end users will be all kind of people, because our products are for public use. To all people, they just want to use easy- to- use products. Hence, instead of using buttons, we have a touch- screen LCD. All things will appear on the screen; the users will find and buy items easily. Moreover, the output tray is automatic will help the customers feel easy to get their items. Besides, we also put a speaker to help the blind people. After all, we think that user will be comfortable when using our products.
In conclusion, we found that even our customers and the end users are different but they have a close relationship because the end user will be the customers of our products buyers. Obviously, one of the most priority elements with our customers is profit, but the feedbacks from the end users will also be an important element that investors have to consider.




Knowledge of geography regions:

One of our main purposes is the mobility element. Hence, we always have to pay attention to the geography regions of the products.
At the first time, we choose the tropical countries such as the ones in the South East Asia or dry areas such as Egypt or Arab Saudi.
In southwest Asian, the climate is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year round. There is a lot of rainfall. Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds or monsoon. The shinning period is not really different between the summer and winter. Besides, there are many large beaches in the countries. And they are developing countries, the competition, hence, is not as hard as that in the developed countries. Besides, in the dry areas such as Asian Middle East countries, the time of shining is fixed with the high intensity. It is a good condition for our product work well. Besides, there are a lot of landscapes there. We think that with the huge number of visitors in the places, our products can have good opportunities in the places.
We think that the two kinds of area will always be the first choice to invest.

After that, we think that we will have to expand our market in the Europe. The continent has a variety of climates, but most of the continent has mild weather. But the shining time of the countries are so different between the seasons. For example, in the UK there will be more than 12 hours of shinning a day in the summer, with the high intensity and the shining time, our products can work well in the period. However, in the winter, the shinning time is only 6 to 8 a day with a so weak light. Moreover, in some bad weather such as mist, raining for a long time or snowing, we think that our products will do not have enough energy to cover the work of machines. As our research, we found that even for one day of weak light energy, our machines can still work well. However, in the case of snowing, the snow will cover all of our solar cell and it cannot get energy from light at that time. Hence, we think that our product can work well in the summer, but in the winter, it will be depend on the local weather at those places.

FINAL SCRIPT


Scene 1
I wish there is a vending machine somewhere here so that I can buy a drink to quench my thirst.
I wish there is a vending machine along the beach so that I can buy a lotion to avoid sunburn and to buy some snacks to eat.
Those are the dialogs that we can found on the previous clips.
So, how can we solve the problem?

Scene 2
Welcome to today’s presentation.
We are from The I group would like to introduce you a solution for the problem address before.

Scene 3
Have you ever heard solar cell?
Have you ever heard vending machine that uses solar cell in order to supply a power to it? If not, then now you will hear about it because...
Today, we would like to introduce our product – Vending Machine that powers its vending and refrigeration mechanisms with solar power. It is known as Solar-Powered Vending Machine. Does it sound interesting? Let us check what are the design requirement, design specifications and business opportunity analysis of this product.

Scene 4 (Design Requirement part)
Why we choose solar cell in the first place? (We can insert solar cell picture during the video presentation)

Where do we store the converted electrical power? (We can insert battery picture during the video presentation)

Apart from that, we also require a sophisticated way to bring the desired item from the tray to the output tray, a user friendly control panel, and a good ergonomic architecture design.
For further explanations, we will summarize each of the parts with the important information.

Output tray
We have an output tray where it will automatically open once the desired item already arrive inside it. Also, it will automatically close, once customer already takes the desired item from the tray. What we mean here is that when there is no item inside the output tray.
How can it happen?
There is one diffuse sensor, a type of optical sensor, mounted in this output tray. When the receiver does not receive any transmitted light produced by the transmitter, it means that there is object exists in the tray, so the output tray door will be open. However, when the receiver of the sensor receives a transmitted light produces by the transmitter, it means that there is no object inside the tray, hence the door will be close.

Robotic arm (Insert movement of robotic arm during this part)
We use robotic arm in order to take the desired item from the display panel and bring it to the output tray. When a customer selects the product, this robotic arm will move from its initial position to the desired item position. Then it will take the selected item and removed from its stored position without dropping it, and carried to a delivery area or an output tray.
How does this robotic arm move?
Servo motor is part of the robotic arm. This motor is responsible to make the arm move according to the command that has been programmed in the main controller.

Display panel
Display panel is a part where it displays all selling item. There is one limit switch mounted at every row in each tray. This limit switch will act as a sensor in order to determine whether the item displayed is still available or running empty.
How we can determine that?
The limit switch will give a signal to the control unit once it has not been touched by any products at the tray (this is a signal showing that the product is running empty) and control unit will activate the logic code application and hence, a SMS will be send to the responsible person as to notify him that the product is running empty and he needs to take some actions.

Control panel
There are four components inside the control panel which are weatherproof touch screen LCD panel, coins validator, notes validator and balance return slot.
For weatherproof touch screen LCD panel, we have one LCD and the function of it is to provide a good user interface by displaying item price and receiving input from user when the item selection is made.
Then, for coins validator and notes validator, we mount each stack with one diffuse sensor for the purpose of it will give a notification when the coin stack or notes stack is about to full by sending a SMS to the responsible person.
We use only 1 component for balance return slot, which is a hopper. This hopper will be functioned as an output slot for balance return if any (in coins).

Architecture design (include video of rotating product image in 3D)
What you can see at the screen right now is our proposed product displaying in various different angle.
Our proposed height of the product is around 1.9m, width is around 1m, the depth is about 1m and the weight is approximately 100 kg just for the empty machine or it can be said as without storing any item or control unit yet.
The purpose of having it big is because to make sure that we are able to fit various selling products into one vending machine and also to store as many product as we could so that the responsible person does not has to frequently come to refill the product. For the weight, the purpose of making it heavy is because we want to make sure that this machine will not be easily remove by any unrelated person (i.e. thief, vandal).

Scene 5 (Design Specification part)
That is basically what we can deliver about our product’s requirement.
Next, we can go in deep by explaining more about what does our machine has. We could explain it by dividing it into 6 systems that mounted in our project.
(include system integration flowchart)
Basically, there are 6 systems that can be found in our project, which are:
Power generating and storing system
User interface system
Robotic arm system
SMS Notification system
Product availability system
Security system

(include solar cell & battery flowchart)
First, we have a look at the power generating & storing system. Like what we have mentioned before, we are getting the power which needs to deliver to the machine from the solar cell. Also, the power that we obtain from the solar cell will be stored in the battery as well. This flowchart which you can see at the screen right now, is telling the step by step procedure of how the sunlight is converted into electricity and when it will be stored in the battery.

Second, we have a look at the user interface system. We choose to have a slightly different user interface than the normal vending machine has. What we meant here is that we are using touch screen in order to interact with the user as we believe that it is more user friendly and sophisticated. Basically, our machine interacts with users through 4 main features:

Product display – where a large clear and see through PVCU panel is used in order to make the selling item visible for user.

LCD touch screen – where an 8.4 inches All-Weather VT084XA weatherproof LCD touch screen is installed at the front face of the machine as a user interface. The touch screen provides an interactive user interface for user to select a desired item to purchase. Unlike other vending machines, a virtual keypad will be displayed at the screen when a sufficient credit is provided by the user.
During an idle mode where the machine is not being used for a period of time, the LCD screen alternately will display preloaded advertisement videos one at a time. The video will be cleared when a user want to buy something from the machine by simply touching the screen.

Money acceptor / balance return – 2 types of money acceptor has been chosen which are coin and notes validator. So, customer will have an option either to pay by using notes or coins. There will be a diffuse sensor mounted at each stack of the coins and notes as to gives a notification to the responsible person when the stack is almost full.

And finally Product Dispenser - There are 2 main components involve in this feature; the robotic arm and the output tray. The robotic arm is used to pick selected item that is chosen by user via the touch screen and put it into the output tray while the output tray is a place where robotic arm place the desired item and customer pick the item from it.

(include robotic arm flowchart)
Third, we have a look at our Robotic arm system. As you can see at the screen right now, it shows a flowchart on how the robotic arm works.
Robotic arm mounted on a vending machine is something that is new to all of us. Why we choose to have a robotic arm is because we think that it will bring the desired item to the output tray in a proper manner (where the normal vending machine only use a gravity to make the desired item go to the output tray).

(include SMS flowchart)
Next, we also include an SMS notification system in our product. We believe by having this system, it will make us easier as it able to notify us during these 3 different occasions:
when the item running empty
when the coin that used as a change running empty
and when something not good (like vandal or people trying to open the door without permission) to the machine.

Next, regarding the Product availability system. As mentioned before in the SMS point, we can easily know when the exact product displayed in the display panel running empty. This is just by placing a limit switch that act as a sensor at every row in the tray. As the sensor gives a high signal to the control unit, that means it is a signal to add the item in the product display.

And the final system that we do include in our product is a Security system. Security system is a critical system for our machine as it could protect the machine from irresponsible people. We decided to install an alarm system that will be triggered on when someone is trying to hack or damage the machine. Apart from that, the system will make the machine send a notification text message or SMS to acknowledge the supplier / owner.


Software
Not to forget the software that has been selected. In order to make our machine become different from existing ones, we added a few features such as LCD touch screen and SMS notification for supplier or owner. These features involve the using of specific software to make it works. So, there are 2 software that has been chosen.


First is Visual Basic.
-We decided to use Visual Basic as the main development software to interface the program and hardware. A GUI is needed as a user interface at the LCD touch screen. The software will take the input from LCD panel (which basically been touched by the user) and give an output signal to the robotic arm to perform it task depending on each one’s programming scheme. Visual Basic also will take the input signal from money acceptor in order to display the current amount of money inserted by the user. Apart from that, by using the software we also going to make the screen display short videos at the GUI for advertisement purpose during the idle mode.

Next is Logiccode GSM SMS ActiveX
-As for the SMS notification feature, we need to use this software which is work together with Visual Basic as it main platform. In this case, we are going to use a small GSM modem with serial data cable which will be connected to the mini computer. The software will make the modem send a notification text message to the owner or supplier if the selling product number is running out, the money stacks (at the money acceptor) is almost full and when emergency alarm is activated.

Done with the software, now we move to the hardware.
Here, I’m going to talk about the placement of the solar cell and the outer casing.

First, is about the solar cell placement. Solar cell should be placed on the top of the vending machines, because we think that by placing the solar cell at the top, it able to absorb more sunlight.

The second element is the outer casing. We decided that our machine must use a weather proof body. So, we choose a PVCU (Polyvinyl Chloride Un-plasticised). We think that PVCU will be a good choice because of the reasons:
Not rot or biologically decompose,
Resistant to weathering,
Low maintenance requirements,
Tough on impact,
Retain its shape within normal climatic temperatures,
Can be reshaped at very high temperature,
Can be recycled,
Cheap
and Durable
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