portfolio-IoneIvan

Soda Machine

Whenever I go to a fast-food restaurant, I prefer having a cold soda drink that has a few cubes of ice. Thus, recently, I decided to go to the Subway and have some soda and fill the cup with cubes of ice.

Holding an empty cup to fill in the soda, I got closer to the soda machine. I had already noticed the drink I wanted to have and the ice option in the middle of the machine. I poured a little of the soda into the cup and decided to add some ice. The icing options, however, didn’t have the lever as all the soda machines do. My mental model (personal simplified understandhing of how the machine physically works) was that it had some optical or motion detection camera installed. I put my cup under the ice output. But nothing happened. Then I decided to put it closer, assuming the leverage for the output of the ice was like a button you have to put your cup close to the icing machine and it would pour, but nothing happened again. Nevertheless, I recieved a feedback from the machine. I noticed the output of the icing machine was moving as it touched the cup during my previous attempt. I pushed the output towards the machine, and the ice finally poured. Then I decided to finish filling it in with the soda. As it was fully filled, I moved to add the covering to the top of the cup and the straws, both of which are right next to the machine. The straw had a protecting covering. Conveniently, there was a trash can for the straw coverings near the straws themselves. Now I can enjoy my cooled soda.

The ice machine is learnable as it is symmetrical, resembles an interaction one could have if someone pours you a drink, and has many error preventions mechanism (such as easily moving parts that make sounds, a field that stores the drinks if it gets spilled).

The machine could be improved by utilizing the convention it has made, such as using the leverage for all outputs, no matter if it’s soda or an ice cube.

video: (P.S: turn on the sound to hear when the ice poors in)

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0e817e99-9e7c-4b19-b685-5c26f877247b

Sudgestion for this soda machien that has implemented the leavarage for the icing filling option: sudgestion