They can be found in airports, supermarkets and railway stations: The drinks vending machines from Drop Water in California. Customers can select their drink at the Drop Station via a touch display and then receive a customised, compostable container. The contents: tap water, which is filtered at the point of sale and flavoured, contains caffeine or has a specific temperature, depending on the selection. With the new vending machine, Drop Water is decentralising the bottling process by using the self-service kiosk as a mini bottling plant. The company is thus taking a much more environmentally friendly approach than conventional bottled water suppliers. This is because there is no need to transport filled bottles.
The heart of the vending machine is a linear robot that produces and dispenses the drinks. It is supplied with energy and data for this purpose. Despite the use of an energy chain, the cable failed in the prototype. It was found that the cables rotated slowly with each cycle and were twisted after 1,000 cycles. The second problem lay in the harnessing. To avoid having to constantly buy, cut, modify and finally assemble each individual component, the company needed a functioning, ready-to-connect solution.