Re: DVD Rental Machine

I would recommend that you find another business idea.  Someone
else is already doing this.  They already have it implemented and
working in the real world.  You haven't even started designing your
system yet.  You should try to make something new and innovative,
rather than trying to make a "me-too" product that is years behind
the competition.


Vending the DVDs is easy.  It is no different than vending a candy
bar.  The hard part is the retrieval and restocking.  I recommend
cutting a slot in the side of the machine, and put a plastic bucket at
the bottom for the returned DVDs to drop into.  Put some foam rubber
at the bottom to cushion the fall.  Then hire some minimum wage kid
to restock the DVDs.  That is how my local Blockbuster does it.  This
low tech solution will allow you to get into the market quickly, which
is WAY more important than having some fancy robot arm.  Once you
have a revenue stream, and a working business model, it may make
sense to add some automation.


I think you are expecting way too much of the average consumer.

Back in the early days of CDROMs, many CDROM drives used a
"caddy" which was basically a case for the CDROM that was
inserted into the drive.  The caddies cost about $2 each.  If you
could find a DVD drive that uses something similar, you could
vend and recover the DVDs in the protective caddies.


Too complex.  You don't need a high DOF arm.  A simple SCARA
(2 DOF) system should be good enough.  You also don't need a
fancy gripper.  Try using suction cups attached to a vacuum pump.
They are reliable, low maintenance, and they won't scratch the
discs.  You might look for a DVD drive that can read either side of
the disc, that way you don't need a robot arm that can flip it over,
since ~20% of your customers will insert it upside down.


No way.  Get real.