Smart IoT-based facemask vending machine for industries in Sri Lanka

Abstract : Facemasks become essential for the industrial working environment due to the covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. A huge number of employees work in medium and enterprise-scale industries. Employees facing face mask distribution problems inside the industries due to high demand. Vending machines were used commonly for automated goods distribution and it help to reduce labor framework. Existing vending machines used coin, cash, card, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and Quick Response code methods for transactions. The vending machines need physical contact by pressing buttons, touching the screen, and touching the machine to collect goods. The existing procedures lead to the covid-19 virus spread in the industries. The smart internet of things (IoT) based vending machine aims to reduce the facemask distribution problem, ensures the covid-19 safety measures inside in the industries with reducing labor work frame to ensure the safety from human-to-human virus infections, simplifier machine operations without direct touching to the surface of the machine, and increase delivery speed to save time. The model machine has a smart remote RFID reader unit, remote motor controlling with feedback unit, and remote database management controlling system. Smart remote RFID reader unit connected with database using Wi-Fi connectivity at a safe distance from the machine and it sends RFID to tag unique identification to a remote database to identify the employee. The database recognizes the employee and sends an actuation command to the motor controlling with feedback unit to deliver the facemask. The feedback unit sends delivery information to the remote database for documentation. The web-based control panel helps to manage, access control, and batch billing processes of employees. The existing machine takes an average of 5 sec to deliver the facemask and the model smart IoT-based facemask vending machine takes an average of 3.99 sec.

Keywords: Covid-19, facemask distribution, smart IoT-based facemask vending machine, smart remote RFID reader unit