CASE STUDY CSC 098

Internet of Things(IoT) in Vending Machines(consumer/retails)

Name: Mohamad Aiman Fitry bin Shamsuddin

Course code: PI009
Matric ID: 2022872774
Lecturer’s Name: Dr. Norzehan Sakamat
Introduction
As we all know, IOT has been used all over the world in so many sectors. For example,
agriculture, law enforcement and also education. IOT means Internet of Things and can be
defined as the network of physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and other
technologies for connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the
internet. For consumer/retails sector, vending machine can be one of the examples of it has the
IOT system in it. As we all know, vending machines is the machines which you can buy any
small things anywhere more faster compare to queuing at the store or any supermarket. For
example, foods, snacks, phone’s accessories and many more. As the time goes linearly as the
technologies nowadays goes, vending machines also got embedded with this IOT concept which
makes everything a lot more easier.

Advantages
One of the advantages is it can save people’s times. This is because vending machines can
sell anything with reasonable size and easy to pickup by consumer such as food, beverages and
many more. The main example is when there are vending machines at office or any other
workplaces, the peoples that worked there can get something to eat and drink easily than to go to
restaurants or any stores physically. This can help with someone who always have much worked
to do, they just need to choose what they wanted on the display that embedded on the vending
machines itself so the coding inside the machines will be processed to give what the consumer
has choosed to buy.
Other than that, having an IOT concept on vending machines can also give consumer
option to buy something with cash or any other payment method. After that, another advantage is
the machine can report sales and operational data to the owner constantly so that the owner can
keep track of inventory and other indicators. This is to make sure that the machines have all the
things stock up in it so that consumer don’t have a hard time in finding what they needed. The
other advantage is it can inform the owner of the vending machines about all types of technical
alerts by sending it by VMS or mobile apps. This is to make sure that the machines is in a good
condition every time so that it can operate normally every seconds.

Disadvantages
Eventhough it have so many advantages, it also come with some advantage too. One of
the disadvantages is that it is physically broken by any an unresponsible people. It is because the
vending machines will not be checked gradually unless the stock in it has finished. The owner
will only be alerted through their device because of technical alert and the amount of inventory
in it only. For example, someone can easily shattered the vending machines using a hard object
and stole the items that were stored in it. Other than that, the disadvantage is it requires skilled
staff to repair and do the maintenances of the smart vending machines. This is because of the
software programming that need to be taken care of. As we all know, programming is not for
everybody because it is harder to learn. It might be harder to find skilled staff to do the
maintenance of the machine.
 In addition, the smart vending machines are expensive which demands higher initial
investments. After all, it requires higher operational expenses and maintenance cost to setup this
smart vending machines thing. Furthermore, the disadvantages is the risk of the hacker. As we all
know, there are many high skilled hacker so smart vending machine can be at risk too if it don’t
have a high security program installed it.

Recommendations
For the future, there are many things that can be improve to make this smart vending
machine better such as improve the security that have been programmed in it. This is to make
sure that there will be no hacker that could breach into the vending machine system so that the
owner will not face any losses. Other than that, the improvement that can be make is to make an
UI(user interface) which is more recognizable by the elders. This is to make sure that it is easy
for them to buy what they needed at the vending machine because not all the elderly people get
along with today’s technologies.
Another improvement is that by adding more payment method to the vending machine. As
the time goes on, people will not likely bring money to wherever they go and also many type of
currency or payment ways that been created. This is to make sure the smart vending machine is
up to date with all the payment method that will be created years by years.

Conclusion
In conclusion, when something with embedded with technologies, It really make people’s
life mush more easier than before. Hope that this sector can grow more and more towards the day
onward with the help of technologies. We can see how much everything have changed because
of technologies nowadays. Smart Vending Machine is one of the example that shows how IoT
can be beneficial to not just people but also in the modernization of a country.
References
  Chris Blomquist(2018)The Benefits of Offline VS Online Vending Machines.
https://www.parlevelsystems.com/2018/10/23/online-offline-infographic/
 DT Wiyanti and MN Alim 2020. Automated vending machine with IoT infrastructure for smart
factory application J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 1567 032038
 Nilani Ratnasria , Tharaga Sharmilanb 2021. Vending Machine Technologies: A Review Article
https://www.gssrr.org/index.php/JournalOfBasicAndApplied/article/view/12579