Arduino Powered Spice Dispenser Machine

Hello Readers, In this instructables i have made a spice dispenser machine using arduino there is a reason behind building this project and let me tell you that!

I have been learning to cook recently and in most of the times i always end up adding the wrong spice to the food!

You know the consequence! so to solve this issue i made a simple invention that will dispense 3 type of spices at the press of a button.

I will use an OLED screen that will show the spices name and a joystick module that will help to navigate through the type of spices and also to dispense them.

Note that there are no limitations in using the device it is just like the frame and you can customise this as per your requirements.

Imagine you are living in a place where the spices are totally different than im using in such cases you can modify the code so that the servo open and close time varies hence the spice will be dispensed accordinly.

Or an instance the spice property vary(size of grains) in such cases you can increase the size of the hole or the container which you are using is bigger so you may need to add a strong closing lid.

The ideas are endless but it all depends on the type of application that you wil be using.

Let me quickly explain to you about my project.

This dispenser not only can dispense spices but also other type of grains or dry food

The onboard display comes with menu that you can navigate with the help of a joystick module, Up/Down button can be used to move through the menu whereas the Right/Left button to select the required spice(menu)

I have set one second dispense time and you can change this as per your requirement.

This is a great project that will be handy in the kitchen, I have given all the resources to build this project including a circuit diagram and arduinio program.

Not to forget that also i have given a complete video tutorial in the end of this project.

These are the materials that you will need to build this project, Keep them handy so you can build this faster

Arduino Uno

OLED module

Joystick module

Micro servo x 3

Small breadboard

Jumper cables

Battery holder

Paper cups/small plastic bottle

Cardboard sheet

Tubes of paper

Hot glue

Paper Glue

Spices(which you want to dispense)

Note that these are amazon affiliate links and upon successful sale i may receive a small percent at no extra cost to you, This will help me to support such cool ideas

The circuit diagram that you are seeing may seem complex to most of the readers who are new to electronics! Do not worry i will explain it to you component wise.

There are 3 different electronic modules that we will be using in this project apart from Arduino.

I will break it down one by one

The first one is micro servo and i will be using 3 of these and each will dispense spice one after the other.

I will use a breadboard and i will connect power rails of each breadboard to 5v and gnd of the uno board.

Now the Vcc and Gnd of the servo are connected to these power rails whereas the signal of the servo is connected to D5, D6 and D7 pins of the Uno board, and now the servo connection is complete.

The second component will be the OLED and it has 4 pins, Gnd, Vcc, Sck and Sda

The power pins will be connected to power rails on the breadboard whereas the Sck is connected to A5 and Sda to A4 pin on the uno

The last component is the joystick module and the power pins is connected to power rails on the breadboard whereas the Vrx and Vry (vertical and horizontal pins) are connect to A0 and A1 pi on the Uno board

Once the connections are complete connect uno board to computer using the programming cable and open arduino IDE

Copy and paste the below arduino program to the IDE and press on the upload button after you double check the port and the type of board on the IDE.

After the code is done uploading we can head over to test the circuit and i will show it in the next step.

To test if the circuit is working fine simply connect the USB cable to the computer and the other end to the Uno board.

You will see the message on the OLED board and that option can be navigated using the joystick module, The joystick module comes with 5 buttons controlled with a single switch.

Up/down movement will enable the menu options to move up and down, whereas the left and right movement on the joystick will enable the option to be chosen!

Once you select the option(menu) and press the left or right button the servo should make movements, Horns will open and close for 1 second and now you can repeat the same step for the other 2 servos.

After we check the circuit for its working we can assemble all these components on a piece of cardboard, Use hot glue wherever necessary and there is no fixed rule to keep the components in a fixed place.

To make the servo and dispenser mechanism we need a stand and I will use tubes made from paper for this purpose.

Just use hot glue and place the paper tubes on this and allow to dry completely, On the tip add the servo and now we can head over to making the container holder and dispense mechanism.

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I chose a very easy yet effective mechanism to dispense food in this project and let me explain you other options that you can implement too.

Paper cups are easy to work upon and I made a small hole in the base of these cups and a circle was made on the cardboard with a size little larger than the hole.

Glue the circle on the servo horn and allow it to dry completely, Now add these cups to the pillars using hot glue.

Make minor adjustments wherever necessary and organize the cables neatly on the cardboard so that they won't obstruct when the project is in working condition.

Feel free to make your own alterations to this project so that it will look better and better.

After this is complete we can head over to test this project, which is the most exciting part of this project

This is the best part of the project testing our efforts to check if it is giving the expected results or not and if you followed everything as per the instructions definitely it will!

I will start by filling the container with the food(spices) in my case i will be using the grains to test ṭhe working.

Fill the container with rice and then power on the arduino uno board using the USB power supply, You will now see the message on ṭhe OLED screen asking for the options.

Use the joystick module(up and down buttons) to navigate between the options and either the left or right button on joystick module to select the option.

You will see the servo horn open and close thereby dispensing the type of spices, To make it easier for everyone to understand the type of spice/food that we are dispensing i have marked the staring letter of each on the container.

If you plan to use different food to dispense using this machine you can do that by making few changes in the size of the stopper and the hole on the container also the quantity can be changed with the help of arduino program.

This was all about this project, if you still have any questions consider watching the video below.

Feeling like you missed something? Check the detailed video tutorial of this project that shows how to build along with circuit making and program uploading instructions.

I recommend you to build this project since there are lots of learning by building this, The add ons that you can make using this same project are simply amazing, I'll give you an instance wherein you will have an idea

Suppose you want to control this dispenser using a phone that can be done too, Just add Bluetooth module and with mobile application this can be made fully remote.

The options are endless, just you should apply your creativity touch!

This is all about this project, if you still have any questions left to ask you can ask me in the comments section and i would be happy to discuss that.

Have a great build and see you in another instructables.