[ANN] Bitcoin/Litecoin Soda Machine Project v0.4

[hendo420]

Check out the video of Bitcoin/Litecoin Soda Machine v0.2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U51zvo-HOdg

I started a project earlier this week to make a soda machine accept Bitcoins, then I figured what the hell and made it accept Litecoins as well.

The system consists of a Raspberry Pi, a 7" LCD and a relay circuit.

The program on the Pi checks the price of bitcoin/litecoin and the balance of its wallet once every 10-15 seconds, I haven't decided on a set time yet. I may change it to 5 seconds, it doesn't speed up transactions much lowering the refresh time tho, just more work for the 700mhz Pi CPU lol

It currently takes between 10-60 seconds to vend a soda, waiting 1 minute to get a soda may seem like a bit of a wait but it takes over 30 seconds on less than 20% of all transactions so far. The majority of transactions are under 30 seconds.

The QR codes are dynamic and change according to the price.

I'm at the stage that all I have to do is install it in my soda machine. I'm waiting on the rain to let up and I will be doing just that. I will post a video for all to see when its complete later today.

Here are some screenshots for you to drool over.












Let me know what you guys think, I'm always open for input.

[hendo420]

The Relay, LCD, and mini wireless keyboard mouse will all be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I should have the soda machine working shortly after that.

[Rupture]

Post pics of it in action when ready

[hendo420]

Post pics of it in action when ready

I will.  

I have another project I want to do after the soda machine is up and running.

I want to take an old dollar bill changer I have, install a thermal printer and a raspberry Pi and when $1 is inserted it calculates the current exchange rate and prints out a paper wallet. Or I could skip the paper wallet all together and add the raspberry Pi camera and have it read the qr code on your phone and send how ever much $1 is in bitcoins at that time.

This way people can load up their bitcoin wallet on their phone to use on the soda machine. lol

[hendo420]

Still waiting on the rest of the parts to hook it up to the soda machine.

In the mean time I made a Litecoin version

Say Hello to Litecoin Soda Machine v0.1

[hendo420]

Updated to v0.3

Added dynamic QR codes, they now change to include the current price of a soda. Now all you have to do is scan the qr code and hit send on your phone. Simple.

[hendo420]

Relay/monitor is all set up. Program runs flawlessly. All that is needed now is to install in the soda machine. That may be tomorow if I get time. I'm buying a 2nd soda machine and have to drive 2 hours to go pick it up tomorrow. lol

[hendo420]

Would you be able to update the prices remotely? The flux on the prices has been crazy for a while now.

It calculates the price every 15 seconds and updates the QR code with the current price of soda in bitcoin.

[PenAndPaper]

You should install it next to the bitcoin atm 
Or the bitcoin atm is inside a cafe already? Not sure 

[hendo420]

You should install it next to the bitcoin atm  
Or the bitcoin atm is inside a cafe already? Not sure  

I need to contact the people behind the bitcoin ATM and see if they have any advise. lol

My next project, once the soda machine is running 100% is to turn an old dollar bill changer into a bitcoin "atm" of sorts.
You insert a dollar and it spits out freshly generated paper wallet. Or since you can import private keys right into the blockchain wallet app, I can just display the private key in a QR code on the screen. Generating a public/private key, sending coin to it, and then displaying it and deleting that key.

I can then mount it on the soda machine and you can buy and use bitcoins in the same location. Kind of like buying tokens at chuck-e-cheese only they work at a ton of other places or can be traded for cash. lol

I have a retail POS designed in my head that may show up as a project in a month or so too.

[PenAndPaper]

My next project, once the soda machine is running 100% is to turn an old dollar bill changer into a bitcoin "atm" of sorts.
You insert a dollar and it spits out freshly generated paper wallet. Or since you can import private keys right into the blockchain wallet app, I can just display the private key in a QR code on the screen. Generating a public/private key, sending coin to it, and then displaying it and deleting that key.

I don't think this is going to work because it requires for the customers to trust you.
Stick with the soda machine 

[hendo420]

My next project, once the soda machine is running 100% is to turn an old dollar bill changer into a bitcoin "atm" of sorts.
You insert a dollar and it spits out freshly generated paper wallet. Or since you can import private keys right into the blockchain wallet app, I can just display the private key in a QR code on the screen. Generating a public/private key, sending coin to it, and then displaying it and deleting that key.

I don't think this is going to work because it requires for the customers to trust you.
Stick with the soda machine 

Trust is earned. Also people need a place to reload their wallet on their phone to buy more soda.

I also have a bitcoin retail point of sale in the works.
Its just a concept right now but I'm certain I can make it work.
Details to come when I start working on it in a few weeks.

Btw, I got my second soda machine. It only cost me $100 and the only problem is the coils keep freezing up. I have a fix for that.
It is a newer machine. It runs on a 24v system instead of 120v like my other machine.
It excites me because it gives me the oportunity to make my device more universal.
I plan to market it to people with soda vending routes.

I even found a way to provide cheap dedicated internet to them without a monthy fee.

Walmart has a prepaid wifi hotspot you can buy that they sell data to you by the MB/GB with no expiration and your not paying per month it just lasts till you use the data. The $10 card gives 500mb of data. Checking a wallet balance and the price at btc-e every 10-15 seconds shouldn't use 500mb in a year. lol

[PenAndPaper]

Trust is earned.

Yes and we all know how this usually ends.
Don't take me wrong you may be the most trustworthy person on earth but a bitcoin business model that requires trust is DOA for me.

[hendo420]

Trust is earned.

Yes and we all know how this usually ends.
Don't take me wrong you may be the most trustworthy person on earth but a bitcoin business model that requires trust is DOA for me.

So I guess you wouldn't use one of the new bitcoin ATM's that are popping up in Canada?

if you import a private key into blockchain.info it gives you the option to instantly send thoes funds to another address. It advises not to keep the funds on that address. I'm not 100% if the smartphone app does the same thing, I haven't tried importing a private key with funds on it, I have only done empty keys on the smartphone app.

That means there isnt much "trust" needed. That and you can do a $1 at a time, anyone would risk a $1 to see if it works. lol

I dont see where the need for a trust comes in. lol

If i needed to I could add a camera and have the device send bitcoins directly to the smartphone wallet by having the user bring up his receive QR code and showing it to the camera. But that honestly is alot more work/cost that isnt really necessary.

[PenAndPaper]

The bitcoin atm in canada doesn't mess with any private key of yours in no way whatsoever.

Blockchain.info stores encrypted versions of your private keys so they don't know them either.

[hendo420]

The bitcoin atm in canada doesn't mess with any private key of yours in no way whatsoever.

Blockchain.info stores encrypted versions of your private keys so they don't know them either.

Try importing a paper wallet on blockchain.info, you will see what im talking about. They recommend you have it sent from that private key to an address that you own and if you click accept it does it automatically.

[callem]

Cool project.
You mentioned you had some ideas for a POS implementation.. I'd be interested in any thoughts you may have on the opencxp POS protocol, this vending machine is exactly the type of application we had in mind when it was being drafted. Pre-release white paper is at opencxp.org if you're interested in looking at it.

[hendo420]

It is complete. Check out the video.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DR79AkgPZA


http://bitcoinsodamachine.com

[callem]

Amazing. That was one fast prototype to 'production' cycle! Must be the first litecoin vending machine for sure?

[hendo420]

Amazing. That was one fast prototype to 'production' cycle! Must be the first litecoin vending machine for sure?

Guaranteed its the first litecoin vending machine.

Its the first Bitcoin vending machine in the wild.

There is a video on youtube by a guy who made a bitcoin vending and soda machine but it was far from "complete", the QR code came up on his laptop and it wasn't very pretty. lol