first ever vending machine

First ever vending machine: As always, necessity was the mother of invention. David Nichols was a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Science department. He was looking for a soda one day in the 1980s. His office was far from the Coke machine, and, given his peers’ high caffeine consumption, Nichols knew that it was likely to be empty.

“Suddenly, I thought of the Prancing Pony [the first computer controlled vending machine] at Stanford. And realized that we didn’t have to endure this, that technology was available,” Nichols later said.

Nichols shared his ideas with a few of his friends to remotely track the contents of the machine and end unsatisfying soda runs. Ivor Durham and Mike Kazar, both students at Nichols, joined him in making it happen. John Zsarnay was a university researcher.

It was important to keep an eye on the lights of the Coke machine so you could determine its contents. Six columns of soda bottles were used to make the machine. A red indicator light would flash for several seconds when someone bought a Coke. Then it would turn off. The light would stay on until the sodas were refilled.