Gui Shuheng , Mark Guo and Jason Wu from EME – An intelligent vending machine for personalized drinks
機電工程系的桂舒恆、郭笑辰和吳健翔 – 具有人臉識別、智慧支付及多口味多配料的智能飲料售賣機

Intelligent Vending Machine for Personalized Drinks

With the final year project ‘Intelligent Vending Machine for Personalized Drinks’, Gui Shuheng, Guo Xiaochen (Mark), and Wu Jianxiang (Jason) became the excellent graduates of the Department of Electromechanical Engineering this year. By inheriting the features of the 1^st intelligent vending machine developed by Hu Zhiyuan (Huber Hu), the next generation of intelligent vending machine not only can make milk tea on site, but also has a variety of taste options (such as cold and hot coconut fruit milk tea, fresh grass milk tea) for customers. The machine becomes more stable, more efficient and takes up less space after many refinements. Different from the 1^st generation, they decided to adopt fresh milk and tea leaves, so that the milk tea tastes a lot smoother and became more competitive. In order to catch up with the trend of smart payment, except for the function of facial-recognition payment, the vending machine is also equipped with other payment methods, such as Macau Pass and Alipay. The vending machine will also retain the customer’s information and collect big data to speculate  customer’s preferences. A health monitoring function is also equipped in the machine, if customer purchases more than a certain amount, the vending machine will have a corresponding health prompt. Graduates continue to see breakthroughs and innovation on this multi-functional intelligent vending machine, marking the excellence and unyielding spirit of the science of UM.

Being conscientious, meticulous and bring forth new ideas

All of them felt very promising in regards of this topic, as it could bring an extraordinary experience to the customer. Shuheng says, ‘The general milk tea shop only operates for 12 hours, but the vending machine can operate for 24 hours. Even at midnight, there are fresh milk tea available.’ Compared with the traditional milk tea shop, intelligent vending machine has lower operating costs. Mark says, ‘No need to pay rent and staff costs, also, sterilizing a vending machine is far more hygienic and easier than sterilizing an entire store.’ Jason believes that the machine could become part of the artificial intelligence network. If it can be successfully launched into the market, it will change Macau into a smart city. They performed their own duties clearly and cooperatively, both of them encountered many challenges but also achieved a lot during the whole process. Shuheng, who was in charge of the facial recognition function, he shares, ‘This function was not available in the 1st generation. It started from scratch. There were also a lot of incompatibilities of coding and software arise. ‘Since this is a new function, Shuheng needed to communicate and work with different departments to ensure a smooth execution. Except for consolidating his professional knowledge, Shuheng said that it is crucial to develop his communication and coordination skills. For other teammate, Mark who was responsible for the design and testing of the vending machine, ‘We referred to many books and cited many works from other experts. Such as, making the machine to put pearls and other ingredients into the tea, improve the taste in order to make it taste like real milk tea.’ He says. For Jason, his duties  are manufacture and modification, ‘Because we were redesigning the whole machine, many modules need to be reassembled and coordinated. Although I have learned it before, it is not in-depth learning. This project fully applied what I had learned in the past four years.’ Jason says. Three of them finally overcome all difficulties, and successfully manufactured an intelligent vending machine with facial recognition payment, and multiple flavors and ingredients.

Years are wonderful because of UM

Time at UM is fleeting. Since three of them are graduated from UM now, there are many professors and friends they would like to thank for their mentorship and guidance in the past 4 years. They said many professors at UM have strong sense of responsibility and dedication of teaching work, such as Prof. Yang Zhixin who personally guides them to finish the project; Huber Hu, the person who designed the 1^st automatic milk tea machine last year, shared many valuable experiences to them. Looking back to their days at UM, Shuheng says, ‘UM has very good studying atmosphere, high level of academic freedom, and various types of equipment.’ At the same time, UM is considered as a platform for studying abroad. Shuheng is now being accepted by the university in Canadian for his master degree application, he will continue his learning journey in the coming year. Jason believes that UM is an energetic place with many resources and exchange opportunities. Having won the whole person development award and the photography award, Jason who is active in student activities has participated in the exchange programs between UM and universities in German and Canadian during the summer vacation. Jason has also made many new friends in college and even successfully learned a new language — Cantonese. He will continue to study for a master’s degree in Hong Kong next year. Mark shared what he gains in UM, ‘Except for the professional knowledge, I have learned how to think more critically, and I get to analyze more deeply about life.’ Mark also agreed that UM has rich resources in studying. Last year, he participated into a summer exchange program between UM and Harbin Institute of Technology, teamed up with local students to design a robot, they successfully won the mechanical design excellence award. Mark is looking for a job now, and wishes to apply his knowledge in the future. They also encouraged other underclassmen at UM to start planning to grasp the future, find their own interests and directions as early as possible, and work hard to become an elite in a certain field.

個性化智能飲料售賣機

本學年機電工程系的本科畢業生桂舒恆、郭笑辰及吳健翔憑著“個性化智能飲料售賣機”畢業設計項目成為該系的優秀畢業生。承繼了第一代胡致遠學長研發的自動奶茶機的特點，第二代的’個性化智能飲料售賣機’，除了懂得現場制作奶茶外，還加入了多種口味選擇 (如冷或熱的椰果奶茶、鮮草奶茶等)，經過多次改良後發揮更穩定、能更高效地制作飲料及更懂得善用空間，令售賣機所佔的空間更少。這一次他們更嘗試用新鮮的牛奶和茶葉制作，令奶茶口感更順滑，在市場中更有競爭力。為趕上智慧支付的潮流，除了人臉識別外，售賣機配備其他支付方式，如澳門通及支付實等。售賣機還會保留客人的資料，採集大數據以推測客人的喜好。這個售賣機還具備健康監測功能，若購買超過一定數量，售賣機則會有相應健康提示。這部集多功能於一身的“個性化智能飲料售賣機”承繼了兩屆畢業生的努力，在原有的基礎上不斷創新尋求突破，標誌著澳大科研精益求精，不屈不撓的精神。

一絲不苟、不斷創新

對於這個畢業項目，三人均覺得很有前景，認為能夠給客人帶來不同凡響的體驗。舒恆同學分享說:「平常的奶茶店最多也只經營約12小時，但售賣機卻能夠運作24小時，即使零晨也有新鮮奶茶可供應。」另一位成員笑辰同學則認為相比實體奶茶店，智能飲料售賣機運作成本更低，他說:「不需要支付租金及店員等人手成本，消毒售賣機比消毒整間店舖遠遠要更衛生更容易。」健翔同學則相信售賣機能成為人工智能網絡的一部分，若能夠成功推出市場，更能令澳門成為智慧城市。在這個畢業項目製作過程中，三人各司其職，明確又協同配合，遇到不少挑戰同時也獲益良多。負責人臉識別功能的舒恆說: 「這功能是上一代沒有的功能，基本上是由零開始，也發生很多代碼軟件不相容等情況。」一切由基礎開始，過程中要積極地與不同部門協商搜集資料，舒恆認為除了鞏固自己的專業知識，更重要的是提高了自己溝通和協調的能力。而笑辰是負責機器的設計及測試，他說:「我們參考了很多書籍，也引用了不少前人的做法，如何把珍珠等配料投入奶茶中，不斷設計改進，讓它的口感更貼近真正的奶茶。」第三位組員健翔負責製造及後期修改，他則分享說:「由於我們是重新把整部機器再設計，很多模塊需要重新拼湊及協調，雖然以前學過，但並不深入，正好透過這次畢業項目，把過去四年所學全面應用出來。」三人最終成功刻服困難，順利製造出具有人臉識別、智慧支付及多口味多配料的智能飲料售賣機。

歲月因澳大而精彩

四年澳大學生生涯轉瞬即逝，他們也感謝不少良師益友的教育令他們受益匪淺。三人表示澳大很多教授都很有責任感對教學工作盡心盡力，例如親自指導他們的畢業項目的楊志新教授以及設計第一代自動奶茶機的胡致遠學長。回顧自己在澳大的日子，舒恆說: 「這裡學習風氣很好，學術自由度高，各種設備都很完善。」同時，澳大也是一個出國升學的平台，舒恆目前已獲加拿大的大學碩士取錄，未來將前往當地繼續深造。另一位成員健翔則認為澳大是一個有活力，有很多資源及交流機會的地方。曾獲得全人發展獎及攝影獎的他大學暑假曾參與澳大與德國及加拿大大學的交流，一向活躍的健翔在書院也結識不少朋友，甚至還學會了廣東話。來年他將在香港繼續進修碩士課程。而笑辰認為在澳大的收穫: 「除了提高專業知識，就是學會了批判性思考，現在對每件事情都會更深入地分析。」笑辰也同意澳大資源豐富，去年他參與了澳大和哈爾濱工業大學的暑期交流項目，更和當地學生組隊設計機器人，得到了機械設計優秀獎，未來笑辰將投入到職場中，希望能發揮所長。最後他們也勉勵澳大一眾學弟學妹，入學開始就要好好計劃把握未來，盡早找到自己的興趣和方向，努力建樹，成為某領域的精英。